


A CatCo Christmas

by queenofpendragons



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Christmas AU, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Hallmark Movie Fic Challenge, human kara au, human!kara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-09-13 16:39:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16896207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofpendragons/pseuds/queenofpendragons
Summary: When Lena Luthor becomes the new acting CFO of CatCo Worldwide Media, her first resolution is to cut the annual Christmas event budget in half... leaving the person in charge of planning it, Kara Danvers, scrambling to figure out how to pull it off this year. As the reporter does her best to make this new budget work and plan the event without stepping on the toes of her Scrooge-like new boss, an unlikely friendship begins to form between the two as Kara's Christmas spirit inevitably begins to rub off on the hard-hearted Luthor. Will the cheery blonde be able to save the annual Christmas event and melt the icy heart of her boss at the same time? Or will this CatCo Christmas end up in complete and utter disaster?





	1. The New CFO

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo I've been trying to write up this first chapter for ages now but here it is, finally published! This is my first SuperCorp work which is insane because I've loved the ship for a while now but what better than a cheesy lowkey Hallmark Christmas fic? Let me know what you guys think!

Kara Danvers _loved_ Christmas.

In a Christmas-tree-up-right-after-Thanksgiving, sweaters-with-terrible-Christmas-puns-and-cute-embroidered-gingerbread-men, blasting-Christmas-music-for-hours kind of way.

The young woman had not always been so obsessed with the holiday. After losing her parents at just thirteen, it had been more of a period of mourning than anything, as she was constantly reminded that while everyone else gathered with their families to indulge in seasonal treats and meals and decorate their homes together… she would never again have that opportunity. It wasn’t until her first Christmas after being adopted by the Danvers that she finally saw Christmas as something profoundly beautiful. Kara had discovered with her adoptive family that Christmas could be just as wonderful with people you weren’t necessarily bonded to by blood. As long as you were surrounded by _good_ people, people like the Danvers, it was bound to be an occasion full of joy and love. That first Christmas had changed everything for Kara, and now, there perhaps wasn’t a soul in National City who didn’t know of her love for the holiday.

At this very moment, Kara Danvers stood with arms crossed, a satisfied look about her as she gazed around at her now fully-decorated loft. Thin paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling, twirling gently with the slightest breeze– lengths of garland looped around curtain rods and small statues of snowmen, Santa Clause, and other Christmas symbols covered what surfaces had been available. Any available space on her walls was filled with wreaths, and there was no telling what her electricity bill would look like with all of the string lights that shone bright in the loft. Most importantly, Kara had put up her tree, though had left it undecorated. She was waiting until her annual Christmas tree decorating party to fill it up with decorations alongside her sister and friends.

It was all _perfect_. Kara glanced at her watch then, eyes widening at how late it had gotten. She’d spent that first weekend of December shopping for new Christmas decorations and the like, but now it was Sunday evening and she had to get in the mindset of returning to work tomorrow morning. Not that that would be a difficult feat– tomorrow she was to give James Olsen an update on how things were looking for the annual CatCo Christmas event, which she had been in charge of planning and executing for the past few years. As every year she further impressed CatCo higher ups with her ability to raise employee spirits and satisfaction through these Christmas events, the budget was bumped up just a bit more. While for executives it was prudent to offer perks like these events to their employees to keep them loyal to the company and hard-working, for Kara it was simply about spreading Christmas cheer and bringing people together.

Blowing out a gingerbread scented candle, a soft, tired smile on her face, Kara finally retreated to her bedroom to slip into bed and get a good night’s sleep.

 

* * *

Lena Luthor _hated_ Christmas. 

In a grumbling-about-passing-Christmas-carolers, avoiding-the-colours-red-and-green-for-a-whole-month, banning-any-Christmas-music-or-decor-at-LuthorCorp kind of way.

She had her own reasons for disliking the joyous holiday, though no one had ever been able to correctly determine what those reasons were. Most employees at LCorp attributed it to Lena Luthor lacking a heart or a soul, or _both_ , and simply knew not to wish her a ‘merry christmas’ when the holiday season came around to avoid incurring the wrath of the CEO. There were also to be no Christmas merrymaking on company time– no parties, no decorations, not even discussion about the holiday should be made when Ms. Luthor was around. It was safe to say that where CatCo prepared for one of the best times of the year, LuthorCorp braced itself for a long, dreary month.

However, little did most of CatCo’s employees, including Kara Danvers, know, but Lena Luthor had just recently finalized her acquisition of the company– she was also now the acting CFO of CatCo Worldwide Media, as their last one had just recently stepped down to retire. And the first thing she’d started doing as CFO was examining the company’s finances, determining what budgets were currently in place and how much money was being allotted to different sectors within the company. She had _not_ been expecting to come across a sizable budget for, what was it– an annual company Christmas event? That was a _thing?_ She didn’t even allow any small-scale Christmas parties at LCorp, because the office space was for work and work alone, not for silly little gatherings where people got drunk off spiked eggnog and wore horribly garish sweaters.

Lena had done a quick Google search of the CatCo annual event while at home Sunday evening, browsing articles covering past events and photos of them while nursing a glass of red wine. Her lips quickly curled in disdain as she took in the evidence of shameless spending on an event that was ridiculously over-the-top. This just simply wouldn’t do– it was a gross misuse of company revenue just to keep employee satisfaction high. The first thing she would do Monday morning would be to approach James Olsen, acting CEO of the company, to inform him she planned on cutting the budget entirely and putting the money towards more practical uses. She was certain the Board of Directors would agree with her as well, once she spoke with them on her review of finances and her suggestions for maximizing company profit. 

Finishing off her glass, Lena shut her laptop and got up from her sofa to get ready for bed.

* * *

 

When Kara walked into the office the next morning, decked out in a sweater with an embroidered reindeer on it over her button up, she quickly realized something was up. She caught on to some whispers here and there as she entered the bullpen, light brows furrowing as she tried to make out what people were on about. The only thing she caught was a name –– Lena Luthor. Of course Kara knew who Lena Luthor was. CEO of LuthorCorp, and _notorious_ Christmas hater. Her sister’s fiancee, Sam Arias, worked for LuthorCorp, and had told her all about Lena’s strict rules about the holiday. It was safe to say Kara was _very_ glad she didn’t work at LCorp –– imagine not having the annual Christmas event! 

She stopped as something on the TV caught her eye –– was that Lena Luthor leaving her limo and walking into CatCo this morning? What was she doing here? Kara found her way over to acting CEO James Olsen’s office, in serious need of some answers.

“Good morning, and merry Christmas, _boss_ ,” the blonde greeted her friend, who shot her a side-eye from by his desk at her words.

“You know, it’s only December 3rd, don’t you?” James asked, arching a brow at her as she slipped past the couches in the office to offer him what looked like a coffee mug from home. “And what is this? Coffee?”

“ _Every_ day of December is Christmas,” Kara reminded him, as if that were a belief held by everyone else as well as herself. “And no, not _coffee_ , homemade Kara Danvers eggnog!”

Now that got a positive reaction out of James, who always looked forward to Kara’s eggnog every December. Her recipe had won several homemade eggnog contests, and was also featured yearly at the Christmas event for guests to enjoy.

“ _Yes!_ I was wondering when you’d whip up a batch this year!” James brought the cup to his lips and took a sip as Kara watched on eagerly. “As always, _extremely_ delicious.”

Kara gave her signature grin, nose scrunching up, and thanked him. “Okay, so what’s going on with everyone today? And why is Lena Luthor on the news coming into CatCo this morning?”

James immediately sobered up and set down his cup of eggnog on his desk, clasping his hands together before him. “I actually just sent out the email before you came in, about an all-hands staff meeting happening actually in fifteen minutes.” He paused momentarily, and Kara’s eyebrows rose in expectation. “Lena Luthor is now the new CFO of CatCo, starting today. She bought the company, Kara.”

Kara’s eyes went very round and wide. “Wait, really? I didn’t hear anything about it on the news! In fact, wasn’t Morgan Edge just talking about buying the company?”

“Well, she beat him to it. You didn’t hear anything because she kept it all very hush-hush –– she didn’t want anything breaking publicly until it was official,” James shook his head. “She just asked me to call a staff meeting to announce the news to everyone, and so she can introduce herself to the employees. After that she wants to meet with me personally, so… big morning, that’s for sure.”

Kara mused over this news in silence for a moment, and she had no real qualms about it until she remembered…

“Wait,” Kara began slowly, blue eyes flickering up to look at James with alarm. “She’s not going to be able to implement her Christmas rules here right? Oh, James, the event!–“

“Don’t worry about that,” James insisted, hoping to ease Kara’s growing panic. “I’m going to make sure she doesn’t try anything like that here at CatCo. I’m sure she’ll understand that things work a little differently here and that it’s good for the culture to keep certain traditions in place. Besides, Christmas decorations should be the last thing of importance to her with all the budgets she’s going to have to look over.”

Kara was a little assured, though not fully, by James’ words. Being CFO meant Lena had a lot of control over budgets, cutting them… and a budget _had_ been set aside for the event. Still, maybe James could convince her not to make any rash decisions about it _._ Certainly Lena had a heart under that Scrooge-ish demeanor –– Kara, ever the optimist, had to believe so. 

“If you say so, then I believe you,” Kara decided, putting on a bright white smile again. “I guess I should go get ready for this meeting, then. Enjoy the eggnog.”

James was just in the middle of taking another gulp of the concoction and made a positive sound at her words as the reporter led herself out of his office. Winn Schott, another close friend of Kara’s, shot out of his seat as Kara walked back through the bullpen to follow her to her office.

“Tell me you didn’t forget to bring some of your famous eggnog for your _other_ very best friend, Miss Danvers,” he coaxed with a little grin, and Kara gave him a feigned look of offense as they approached her office.

“As if I’d ever do such a thing,” she said her purse, pulling out a thermos and offering to him. He gave a triumphant, whispered _‘Yes!’,_ slipping into her office behind her. As Kara set her purse down at her desk and walked around to turn on her computer, Winn looked around her office. Already it was fully decorated with Christmas decor, to Winn’s surprise.

“Okay, how did you manage to get all of this put up already? Please tell me you didn’t come in over the _weekend_ to do this. Like, that would be a whole new level of Christmas obsession with you, Kara.”

Kara looked at him front under her brow, shooting him a look of slight disdain. “Of _course_ not –– I did this all on Friday before I left the office.”

Winn pressed his lips together to avoid saying anything else about that, amusement glimmering in his eyes as he unscrewed the thermos cap. 

“Did James tell you about our new CFO, Lena Luthor?” Kara inquired as she signed onto her email, shaking her head. Meanwhile, Winn was distracted by inhaling the fumes of the hot eggnog in his hands. “Winn!”

“Huh?” his head shot up and his eyes darted up to Kara’s patiently waiting gaze. “Oh, right, Lena Luthor, new CFO. On the first day of December, too –– the beginning of the _Christmas_ _season_.”

He whispered the last part and looked around around exaggeratedly, as if expecting Lena to appear out of thin air and jump him for even mentioning the C-word.

“I’m just hoping her being CFO won’t have any effect on the event budget,” Kara chewed on her lower lip, standing up straight and walking back around her desk. “Anyway, do you wanna head to the staff meeting together?”

“Waaait just one second,” he put a finger up before bringing the thermos to his lips and taking a long sip of eggnog, before letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction. “Ah-mazing. Love me some Kara Danvers eggnog.”

Kara couldn’t help the shining smile that came onto her lips before she nudged him to follow her out of the office, the blonde humming a little Christmas tune as she went along her way.

* * *

Lena was admittedly a little nervous to introduce herself to the employees of CatCo –– she just wanted to make a good first impression, and she hoped pre-existing ideas of her didn’t get in the way of that. She wasn’t evil or running any kind of dictatorship at LuthorCorp, but she knew that many people saw in her in a certain light because of her family… her _brother_. Being a shrewd, confident businesswoman who didn’t let anyone, especially men, tell her what to do and who, at times, made hard, cutting decisions could make her seem intimidating or, as several had said, _‘bitchy’_. She knew that having an outright loathing for Christmas and coming to the company on the very first of the month didn’t exactly put her in a great light either… but Christmas aside, she wanted them to know she planned on being the best CFO this company had ever had and that she was going to keep things up and running impeccably on the financial side. 

Slowly but surely people were filing in to the small auditorium, and Lena stood at the front of the room with a microphone in hand, accompanied by James Olsen. She could tell he was sizing her up a bit from beside her, though she paid him little attention. Many men wasted their time trying to figure her out, determine how easy she might be to intimidate ––it was of little concern to Lena because thus far no one had been able to throw her off her game. One hand reached up to run along the length of her ponytail, smoothing the dark hair in a bit of nervous habit. She’d been a CEO for about two years now, but speaking to a large crowd hadn’t gotten any easier.

Once the room was filled, James lifted his own microphone to his lips, speaking to the crowd of employees.

“Good morning everybody,” he greeted amicably, beginning to move around a bit. “I know you all must have been wondering what this sudden all-hands meeting was about, and I apologize for the short notice. I gathered all of CatCo’s employees together today to announce that with CatCo’s recent purchase, its new owner has now become the new acting CFO. And that person is standing up here with me this morning to say hello to you all.”

As James stepped back to give Lena the spotlight, sudden buzzing erupted in the room again as people whispered back and forth about the news. Kara’s eyes narrowed just slightly behind her glasses as she appraised Lena from her seat near the front, watching as the new CFO licked her lips and did her best to hold a strong composure.

“Good morning, everyone,” Lena finally spoke into the microphone loud and clear, silencing the noise in the room. “I asked Mr. Olsen to gather you all this morning so that I could have the opportunity to introduce myself, as well as help alleviate any concerns about the state of the company and my sudden involvement in CatCo. I’m fairly certain most of you already know me as CEO of LuthorCorp…”

A smile, appearing slightly timid to the careful eye, appeared. “But if not, my name is Lena Luthor, and I’m here to make CatCo, really, the best it can be through my work on the financial side of things until the eventual hiring of a more permanent CFO. Getting budgets and finances in order will allow all of you to do _your_ jobs to the best of your ability, and I promise to you that while I am here at CatCo, its stability and success will be my number one priority.”

As she finished a few hesitant claps sounded –– it was a little embarrassing, but Lena pretended not to notice the lack of support and instead dropped the mic from her lips, holding it tightly in front of her. Kara, meanwhile, was trying to decide how she felt about Lena from that brief introduction. On _one_ hand, she’d heard plenty of accounts from Sam about how the woman could often come off quite intimidating, and of course there was her knowledge of Lena’s hatred for all things jolly and Christmas-y. The media didn’t often have the kindest things to say about Lena Luthor either.

On the other hand, she actually didn’t seem so bad –– she was trying to encourage the employees about her new position at the company, promising to basically keep things up and running for them. There was a sincerity in her words that could not be feigned. And what Kara knew of her from the media… well, the news could be very biased, especially when it came to a Luthor. Most of the things they said about her tended not to have any real weight– as far as Kara knew, Lena had never done anything bad since taking over LuthorCorp. Kara, being optimistic almost to a fault, was starting to think maybe she ought to give Ms. Luthor a fair chance without any preconceived judgements.

“So now we’d like to give you guys a chance to ask any questions or express some concerns, and we’ll do our best to give you a good answer,” James announced with a friendly smile, grabbing a second mic and holding it up. “Who’d like to go first?”

Immediately, impulsively, Kara’s hand shot up into the air, surprising even herself. Oh, _sugar plum!_ What happened to giving Lena a fair chance and not being overly concerned? But the blonde couldn’t help it, it was her Christmas spirit possessing her –– she had to ask Lena about the event while she had the opportunity, she simply couldn’t wait any longer. And maybe she was emboldened by the hope that, because Lena had presented herself in a pretty good light, maybe she wouldn’t be such a Scrooge after all.

“Kara!” James addressed almost with a little surprise in his tone, though he did not question it aloud, stepping forward to pass over the microphone. “Here you are.”

Kara nervously pushed her glasses up, looking at Winn sitting next to her, who stared at her with raised brows. She scrambled up from her seat then, looking directly at Lena, who was awaiting patiently for the reporter to air her inquiry. 

“Hi, um, Ms. Luthor, my name is Kara Danvers,” she offered, fidgeting slightly as she was suddenly aware of hundreds of eyes on her. The young woman took a deep breath, trying to steady herself and build up some resolve. “As you may know, every December CatCo holds a big Christmas event for employees and their guests. Every year I’m the one who plans that event, which is something I think everyone looks forward to.”

Already, Lena’s eyes were beginning to drain of their initial friendliness the more Kara went on, and the tiny, polite smile on her lips was beginning to flatten into a thin line. Unblinking, she waited for Kara to finally ask her question, though the new CFO already had a sinking feeling she knew what she was about to be asked. What was their obsession here with this damn Christmas event? Surely there were more important questions they could ask their new CFO?

“I guess I’ve just been wondering if our budget for the event will remain intact now that you’re CFO of the company.”

Kara licked her lips, lowering the mic and waiting with expectant blue eyes trained on the stiff brunette before her. James looked very put on the spot, and Kara regretted going over his head a bit. But wasn’t it better to hear directly from the horse’s mouth what the fate of her beloved event would be this year? Lena lowered her gaze for a brief moment, a slightly amused but strangely cold smile settling on her lips. When she looked back up at Kara, somehow the reporter just _knew_ that her hope had been direly misplaced.

“Well, Ms. Danvers, I had not yet discussed it with Mr. Olsen or the rest of the board, though I planned to do so today,” Lena began in a forced polite tone, stepping forward a bit. “But I actually would like to cut the budget entirely, for various reasons.”

It was like a sudden chain reaction –– the moment she gave her answer a loud chorus of protests filled the air and the same buzzing from before as people began whispering to each other excitedly. “Hey, hey, everyone settle down!” James insisted, he himself shocked by the admission from Lena. The room quieted significantly at the orders from the acting CEO. Kara’s jaw had dropped at the response she’d received, an angry blush rising to her cheeks as she spoke again into the mic, “You can’t do that!” _Big_ mistake, Kara –– telling Lena Luthor what she could and could not do never ended well for _anyone._ Though the new CFO had been trying her best to remain gracious and fair about the concerns raised to her, now her blood was beginning to boil.

“Actually, I believe I _can_ now that I own the company and have become chiefly responsible for its financial well-being,” Lena replied with a coolness, a subdued malice laced through her words. “I also highly suggest you reconsider the way you speak to your boss if you’d like to keep your job here at CatCo, Ms. Danvers.”

Kara shrunk into herself just a little, though it was of no use protecting herself as Lena continued, now addressing everyone in the room.

“There is a gross misuse of company revenue occurring every year at CatCo Worldwide Media for some glorified office Christmas party, and it ends this year,” she informed the employees indignantly. “The shameful amount of money being spent on this event can be put towards much better things for CatCo, including allowing everyone to keep their jobs. Would you all rather spend one evening at some over-the-top Christmas party, or be assured that you will remain secure in your positions at this company?”

She looked around the room then, waiting for someone to challenge her. She was met with radio silence. But she wasn’t done just yet. Turning those unsympathetic eyes back on the woman who had first disputed her decision, she went for the final jab.

“And by the way, Ms. Danvers… I don’t believe that sweater is within company dress policy,” the brunette added while gazing pointedly at the embroidered reindeer on Kara’s chest, making that blush on her cheeks flare up again. “You might want to change once this meeting is concluded.”

Kara’s lips suddenly became glued together, the reporter reverting to a timid state as she quietly took her seat again, defeated. James stepped forward with pity all over his face, whispering an apology to the young woman before accepting the mic back. Lena remained standing tall, pretending she had no doubts about her actions though she was already beginning to feel it had been a grave mistake. She’d meant to leave a good first impression, but looking around the room now, the employees of CatCo regarded her with uninhibited disgust and disapproval.

James cleared his throat before asking, “Would anyone else like to speak?”

No one so much as shifted in their seat. James gave it a few more seconds before pressing his lips together, feigning calm. “ _Okay_ , then that’s all for this morning everyone. You can return to your departments. Thank you for your time.”

Winn rubbed Kara’s forearm comfortingly, the blonde rising with her face aimed downward and her eyes trained on the floor as they began to exit. She was still feeling ridiculously embarrassed and wished she’d never raised her hand for the stupid mic. Her optimism had been false- Lena Luthor was as big a mean old Scrooge as everyone said she was. The blonde made sure to avoid looking at her as she left the auditorium, ego bruised.

As Lena watched everyone file out down to the last person, that strong jaw slackened and she fidgeted with the microphone in her hands –– she was ashamed. So much for changing their minds about her. She’d reverted back to the Lena she did not like, the Lena that had become a necessity based on the circumstances she’d grown up in. That Lena was defensive and had trouble restraining her temper, and today that Lena had attacked an innocent young woman. Having always been doubted and belittled growing up, Kara’s outburst had prompted a nastiness Lena had never meant to allow to escape her. Not to mention this whole situation being about something as absurd as a Christmas party… already Christmas was a subject Lena preferred to avoid at all costs, so that had further alleviated her irritation. If people weren’t so ridiculously obsessed with the holiday, she wouldn’t be painted as a villain for trying to use the company money for better things!

“So…” James said then, turning to Lena now that they were alone.

“ _Don’t_ ,” Lena instructed him as firmly as she could muster, though there was a tiredness in her eyes. “I meant what I said, even if I shouldn’t have lost my temper about it. I’m cutting that budget James, and I’m going to inform the board of my intentions as well.”

James expected the response, and gestured with his arms, opening them up before clasping his hands together again. “After that meeting, I just think you should reconsider that position,” he suggested lightly. “I know there’s a different culture at LuthorCorp, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I’m worried that if you axe this event entirely, you’ll completely lose the trust of the employees here at CatCo forever. Already they seem unsure after what just happened in here.”

Lena stared at him silently, his words cutting through to her. As much as she wanted to be stubborn about this, how silly she regarded this whole ordeal over a measly holiday event, she perhaps had a feeling deep down that he was right. She wanted to be different didn’t she? Shed the reputation of the Luthor name and make a better name for herself? That was what she’d been trying to accomplish at L-Corp, and what she wanted to do at CatCo. But she’d already majorly screwed up, on her first day no less. It might bode well for her to revise her decision just a little… and further grudgingly, she admitted to herself that perhaps she ought to apologize to Ms. Danvers for her behaviour.

Still, not eager to show her cards, Lena simply told James, “Thank you for pulling this meeting together on short notice. I’ll let you know when I plan on rounding up the board today.”

She offered him her microphone before making her way out of the auditorium, heeled steps echoing loudly before she disappeared entirely beyond the doorway.


	2. A Compromise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really appreciate the comments I received on chapter one!!! We saw the first glimpse of Scrooge McDuck Lena last chapter, and poor Kara got the brunt of it all. But hopefully this chapter redeems Lena just a little.

Lena had successfully managed to round up the CatCo board of directors sometime after lunch that same day, and had informed them of some of the numbers work she had already begun. They seemed to be very pleased with the financial adjustments she was already planning to make, which would benefit both the company and its shareholders. Feeling that she'd buttered the executives up just enough, Lena broached the subject of cutting the Christmas event budget. Suddenly, the members were exchanging looks across the table, obviously dubious. 

"Imagine the better things that money could be put toward," Lena urged them, pale green eyes flickering between a sea of uncertain faces. "Think of the _shareholders_." That phrase usually convinced a board– **usually**. But perhaps not _this_ board. 

Finally, the silence was broken by Mr. Barbash, chairman of the board, who clasped his hand together on the table and spoke what everyone else in the room seemed to be thinking. "Ms. Luthor, while we, and the shareholders, greatly appreciate your intent to use that money for more practical means... we would prefer that this event go on as scheduled."

"Oh?" Lena's shoulders fell just slightly, and her dark brows furrowed. "Do you mind if I ask why, exactly?"

Surely the board wasn't just coincidentally full of a bunch of holly jolly Christmas lovers– there must have been some other reason for them to devote precious funds to something like this. 

"Well, as unlikely as it may sound, spending money on this event actually _helps_ us rather than hurts us," Barbash continued, and seeing Lena's brow quirk up in uncertainty, he quickly further explained. "CatCo employees consider this event to be a major perk of the job. Multiple surveys have shown an increase in employee satisfaction and overall support for the event. Not only does it keep them happy, but it seems to inspire them– which means they put in harder work and generate better content afterwards. During the first quarter of this year we saw more digital subscribers and total revenue increased by _three_ _percent_. That brought us to a profit of over thirty million."

Lena pursed her lips at those numbers, knowing she couldn't very well disagree with them. 

"That could have been a result of anything," she added a bit lamely, not wanting to give in all that easy.

"I'm afraid none of us are going to agree to cutting this budget, Ms. Luthor," another executive stated simply, her peers nodding in agreement. 

Lena, seeing as her initial plan was now a no-go, settled for plan B– **compromise**.

"Okay, then let me suggest cutting _half_ of the budget." Lena pursed her lips, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "And hear me out, please. That leaves surely enough money to go through with the event, I did the calculations myself to ensure there will be enough money for things such as the venue, food, et cetera. _But_... the rest of that money goes towards investing in technology that will advance CatCo in a changing world."

She locked eyes with James then, who had remained silent during the meeting, allowing the execs to defend his position. He seemed still a bit on guard, though his head tilted in curiosity at her new suggestion. "As I'm sure you all are aware, we are living in an increasingly digital age. I've taken a chance to look at the numbers, and CatCo's digital-only subscription rate has dramatically increased since 2015. We need to keep up with our audience, or else we'll fall behind other media conglomerates."

She let her offer sink in, and the directors exchanged looks again– though, Lena thought with triumph, these looks were more positive than those upon her initial suggestion. Some of them began to murmur amongst themselves, though James was still leaning back in his chair, gazing at Lena with disbelief and amusement on his face. She did her best to suppress a smirk, giving the board a few more minutes to talk before inquiring, "Chairman?"

Mr. Barbash looked over at Lena, pressing his lips together thoughtfully. "Let's take the vote then," he said to his peers, nodding at Lena. "You know the procedure, raise your hand for or against. All against the motion?"

Not one hand went up, even as he patiently waited. Lena kept a poker face, eyes flicking between each director. 

"All for it?"

There was movement as a bunch of hands rose in concordance, and Lena couldn't help but smile a little at her win. 

"Thank you," she said to all of them, allowing the chairman to draw the meeting to a close. Everyone began to leave the conference room, though Mr. Barbash stopped to compliment Lena on her forward-thinking and inform her he believed CatCo was going to excel with someone like her so focused on its prolonged success. Then it was just Lena and James, and he rotated slowly in his chair before rising. 

"Kara is going to be devastated," he told her. Lena felt a little guilt for that, but reminded herself she'd at least salvaged half of the budget for the woman. That was more than she'd wanted to even allow before. 

"Don't you have any faith in Ms. Danvers?" Lena retorted, tilting her head at him. "I'm positive she'll find a way to make your silly little event happen with half the budget she's used to."

"What happened to you that made you hate something as inoffensive as Christmas?" James asked in exasperation. Lena's jaw tightened, nostrils flaring at bit at the question that no one else dared to ask (and that she never intended to answer). 

"I think we both should be getting back to work, Mr. Olsen," she noted in a tight voice, sending him a look that said _'Don't ever ask me that again'_ before brushing past him and out of the conference room. 

* * *

Kara stared absent-mindedly at her computer screen in her little office, a half-written and currently abandoned article reflected in the lens' of her glasses. The whole day she'd struggled to kick back into her usual on-task, cheery mode. The confrontation with Lena had made her embarrassed around her peers (though they all showed sympathy and support to her over the whole thing) and her mind was swarmed with concerns about the event. She'd already planned quite a bit before now, as it took planning far in advance for an event of this scale– there were deposits put down, performers booked, things Kara had no clue how to cancel at this point. 

Most of all, there was a damper on her Christmas spirit– normally there wasn't anyone in this world Kara didn't think a little Christmas music and some of her eggnog couldn't make merry. But Lena was so hard-hearted, so impossibly stubborn about the whole holiday... well, it left Kara feeling rather defeated. She was frustrated at her own lack of power over the situation, and wished she'd been able to procure a better answer for her coworkers, who were quite disappointed about the event's seeming demise. The blonde looked down dejectedly at the Christmas sweater she'd shed that was stuffed haphazardly in her bag, leaving her just in the button-up underneath. 

Just then, someone popped their head in her open doorway. It was Eve Teschmacher, James' assistant and Kara's successor. 

"Eve, hi!" Kara tried to greet cheerfully, though it was noticeably lacking for her usual sunny enthusiasm. "What brings you over here?"

The bubbly blonde in her doorway smiled, informing her, "Ms. Luthor would like to speak to you in her office." Kara's eyebrows rose and she immediately rolled her chair back, getting up.

"Oh, uh, _yes_ , okay," she hurried to get around her desk, adjusting her glasses. "Thank you, Eve!" The other woman gave a bright smile and a nod before turning and going back to her station in the bullpen. Kara chewed anxiously on her lower lip, wondering to herself why Lena would want to see her in her office. Could it be about this morning? What if she was still furious about Kara's outburst? Just as awful as losing the event would be losing her _job_... Kara pressed the elevator button several times, internally chastising herself for her impulsive words that morning. 

She was fidgeting all the way to Lena's office, and when her assistant led Kara to the doors, she felt sick to her stomach. The reporter stepped inside of the office, face a bit pale as her eyes landed on Lena Luthor, sat at her desk typing away on her laptop. Lena's eyes wandered from the screen over the top of the laptop, finding Kara standing awkwardly by the doors. 

"You can come in, Ms. Danvers," Lena instructed her, shutting her laptop and leaning back in her chair a bit. Hawk-like, beautiful eyes watched as Kara walked over quite humbly, taking a seat before the woman's desk. She crossed her legs and cleared her throat, fingers reaching up to push her glasses up her nose before she was able to make herself look at Lena. The other woman was taking note of Kara's evident discomfort, wondering if she'd frightened her by asking her to come to her office. Did she think she was getting fired? As she looked over her, she realized something was different about her too... the sweater. She'd taken it off. That reminder of Lena's harsh actions that morning prompted her to finally speak. 

"Ms. Danvers," Lena began, though Kara made a soft sound of protest that cut her off. 

"Kara, please," she young woman insisted with a nervous little laugh, though inwardly slapping herself in the face right after doing it. What did it matter if Lena called her by her first name to fire her versus her more formal title? God, Kara, could you _be_ anymore of a spazz?

"Kara," Lena then said with a funny look on her face before she sobered back up. "I called you up here, firstly, because I don't feel all that great about our interaction this morning."

Kara's breath caught in her throat and her eyes darted all over Lena's regal face, looking for signs of this being satire. She seemed very sincere. "I regret losing my temper like that and speaking to you the way I did," Lena kept on, soft pink lips pursing a bit at herself. "There was no excuse for me to embarrass you in front of your peers like that, and I apologize." The blonde before her blinked owlishly at the unexpected apology, and Lena brought her eyes up expectantly. 

" _Oh!-_  I uh, I'm sorry, too, I shouldn't have challenged you like that," Kara said quickly, fingers raising to her glasses again to adjust. "I just get very defensive over the event, it's, well, it's like my baby." A characteristic Kara snort left the blonde's lips and Lena's brows rose upward, something like amusement in the woman's features as she witnessed the employee's quirky nature. 

"About the event," Lena sighed, twisting a bracelet on her arm. "It's not going to be cancelled." Now Kara was really shocked, and it showed all over her expressive face. Suddenly all of the upset over that morning disappeared from her body. Her precious Christmas event was not going anywhere after all! "Now, if I'd had it my way, it would have been cut," Lena added grudgingly. "But instead, the board decided on cutting only half the budget."

Instantly, that sunny expression of relief on Kara's face dissipated. " _Half?_ " 

"Half," Lena agreed with a forced smile, watching the other woman's reaction with intrigue. "But if you think you can't work with half, I can always go back to the board and propose cutting it _all_ again..."

"No, no!" Kara burst out, fixing a fake grin on her face to assure the CFO. "Half is fine. I can make half work. I'm just... glad it's still on."

Lena couldn't help from rolling her eyes a bit at the excitement over something she thought was so insignificant. "Yes, well, plan as you will, just remember you're only working with half the money," she warned sternly. That reminder sent another ripple of concern through Kara, but she did her best not to show it for fear Lena would take it as her being unable to work with these new circumstances. "Will do, Ms. Luthor," Kara confirmed with a bit of a happy laugh, nodding her head once. 

"That's all, you can return to your office now, Kara," Lena then said, a prim smile on her lips. "I promise, there won't be anymore incidents with my temper in the future, and thank you for allowing me to apologize."

Kara bowed her head as she rose from her seat, a gentle smile on her lips. Somehow, she believed that promise to be true. Her optimism could not be shot down for long, and it had returned with full force. In fact, as her head reeled with ideas for the event, things she would have to change, she began to aspire to something far greater than putting on a Christmas event for all to enjoy. This year, a more important goal was now on her mind– convincing Lena Luthor to like Christmas again. 

"Oh, Ms. Luthor," Kara said just as she reached the door, big, expectant eyes turning back on her superior. "I can wear my reindeer sweater again, _right?_ " The words were hopeful, attempting to sound convincing. 

"Absolutely not."

_"Darn it."_

Kara finally left the office then, leaving Lena behind with what appeared to be the smallest amused smirk on her lips. 

* * *

Later that evening, Kara was in the kitchen pulling out an array of baking ingredients when there was a knock at the door to her loft. She padded over in her red-and-green polka-dotted pajamas, unlocking and pulling open the door. 

"Good evening, Mother Christmas," Alex greeted her sister, stepping into the loft with a grin on her face. Kara smiled in return, gesturing towards the kitchen. "Wanna bake cookies with me?" Alex furrowed her brow at this, setting her jacket and bag by the table. "Kara, you know I can't be entrusted with turning raw ingredients into good food. I live solely off takeout."

"Well, you can mix things," Kara suggested, wandering back over to the island where she'd spread out her items. "That's impossible to mess up."

Alex figured she could not disagree with that, and went to wash her hands in the sink to prepare to help. "So, I heard the news today– Lena Luthor at CatCo, huh?"

"Sam didn't already know either?" Kara asked dubiously. 

"Nope– Lena did a good job of keeping things quiet. Probably wanted to put off being attacked by the news for as long as possible, considering they never let up on every little thing she does."

It was true– National City news outlets could find a way to twist just about anything Lena did into some secret vendetta to commit heinous crimes much like her brother had, despite LuthorCorp actually accomplishing more good in the last two years she'd been running it than the entire time Lex had been in charge. 

"Speaking of Lena... something bad happened this morning," Kara admitted, already beginning to measure flour in her little measuring cups. Alex walked up beside her, sleeves rolled up. " _Oh no_ ," she started, glancing at Kara with curious eyes. "What happened?" Kara then dove into a detailed rendition of her confrontation with Lena, forgetting briefly about measuring and combining of ingredients. Once it was all explained, including her apology to Kara, Alex gave a low whistle. "And I always thought Sam was exaggerating about her hatred for Christmas– but man, did you push Lena Luthor's buttons."

Kara returned to her measuring, finishing placing the ingredients in a large bowl and offering a mixing spoon to Alex. "I'm just kinda freaking out over having half the budget I'm used to," she sighed, a light pout on her lips and her eyes gazing down at the mix of ingredients in the bowl. "I'm probably going to have to cut out a lot of the stuff I wanted to have at the event. And it was such a good theme this year too."

"Oh, right, you told me," Alex recalled as she stirred the mix in the bowl strongly. "A cultural Christmas, right?"

"Yes," Kara groaned, already seeing her visions of that Christmas event dashed away and instead something much less beautiful and unique occurring. "Christmas food from all over the world, different cultural dances and traditions, people singing their native Christmas songs... oh, Alex, it was really going to be something special."

"Hey," Alex said suddenly, stopping her mixing and turning her soft eyes on Kara. "You're the Christmas queen, all right? You're going to pull off a super amazing event regardless of the budget you now have... you always find a way to make things magical this time of year, no matter the setbacks. Don't let some grumpy, Scrooge-y CFO get to you. Who knows, maybe you'll be the one to finally bring Lena to the light and get her to like Christmas."

She almost managed to say the last part seriously, but Kara could sense the sarcasm and immediately let out a guffaw. "I'm no Tiny Tim, Alex, I don't think I'm gonna be able to get Lena to leave behind her Scrooge ways anytime soon," she shook her head, still chuckling. "Tiny Kara, then," Alex offered, a goofy grin on her face as she went back to her mixing.

"Hey, you're smaller than me, remember?"

Laughter filled the warmly-lit loft again as the two sisters continued to bond over cookie-making.

* * *

Lena couldn't bring herself to do it.

Her limo had pulled up outside of the cemetery's gates just as the sky had turned dark, the lights shining bright from the lampposts around the entrance. Green strings of wreathy leaves were hung across the gates, red bows standing out against the wrought iron gates and taunting her. She couldn't do it. Her breath hitched in her throat and she quickly moved to the window dividing her and her chauffeur, pulling down the screen to say, "Frank, I'm sorry, just take me straight home, please." The limo slowly took off from the curb, leaving behind the cemetery gates, and Lena sat back in her seat, an almost aghast look on her face. Thirteen years later, and she still couldn't bring herself to step foot into that graveyard again. 

_'What happened to you that made you hate something as inoffensive as Christmas?'_

The question echoed in her head again and Lena pursed her lips, took in a sharp breath. The answer lied in that cemetery- and even she did not have the courage to confront it. 

 

 

 


	3. A Bright Idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a few days for this update! I've been pretty sick and unable to write much. And then I finally added a ton more to the chapter tonight and AO3 logged me out and I thought i'd saved and I didn't :)) Definitely not as good a version as what I had before, so I'm sorry.
> 
> Also, sidenote, I know National City is supposed to be?? Somewhere in Southern California from what the internet tells me and I don't know how much snow California gets, if any, but I really really want SuperCorp in snow so pardon me if I'm could be way off, but I'm going to make it snow lmao

The moment she'd received the news about the budget, Kara had begun to internally put together a list of things she would have to do over the course of the week– that list included calling performers and caterers, cancelling hefty orders of materials, and several other tasks that would not be fun for the reporter. But there was at least _one_ thing she refused to let go of, and really couldn't considering the deposit she'd already put down– and that was the **venue**.

A little ways from downtown National City was a gorgeous outdoor space, Millwick Gardens, which had enough clear land for all of the attendees and for the different stations to be set up. It didn't matter much that it was winter and most plants would have withered by now– snow covering all of the beautiful, statuesque trees paired with assorted decorations and string lights would make for an equally beautiful setting as the garden during the summer. And she'd very purposefully chosen a more laidback and open setting, as employees were encouraged to bring their families, which included children. Thus, Kara wanted a venue that had plenty of room for kids to run around and have fun, but was also casual so employees didn't have to dress in formal attire as many other company events required.

"I'm very sorry to have to cancel the order, but thank you so much for being so accommodating," Kara sighed into the phone, running a hand over the top of her head and smoothing a few stray blonde hairs. The employee on the other end of the phone assured her over it, saying it was no problem, and the conversation was ended. Kara was really doing her best to cut the least important things– stuff like decor she could easily get thrifty with and purchase from the dollar store, as well as crafts that would be available in pop-up tents for kids to occupy themselves with. _Heck_ , she'd make some of the decorations from scratch herself. However, she'd have to get to work immediately, seeing as the event took place just before Christmas, on the 22nd. Her time was running out and she had a lot of revisionary work ahead of her. 

She was really just trying to avoid cutting some of the best stuff, especially people she'd already booked. Folk dancers, singers who would carol in their native tongue, people to make some of the fabulous decorative displays she'd wanted... She'd definitely have to cut back on some of the catering, though it was preferable to limit the array of foods than to cut performers. Perhaps it _did_  all seem very excessive to an outsider, and it was no wonder Lena had been appalled by it all. But Kara really just wanted it to be an amazing experience for everyone. And she was certain many of her colleagues with different heritages than herself would appreciate seeing some of their own native traditions being represented at an event like this. Everyone deserved to feel at home on Christmas... the Danvers had made her feel at home when they'd taken her in as a young girl, and she only wanted to do the same for others.

A sudden idea popped into Kara's head as she was mulling things over, and a mischievous smile lit up her face. The blonde jumped up from her desk and bounded to the elevators, pressing the button to go up several times. With a ding, the lift arrived and Kara hopped on, zooming up towards Lena Luthor's office. 

* * *

Lena was staring absentmindedly at her laptop screen, lips softly parted as she remained lost in her thoughts. It had been two days since her stop at the cemetery... she couldn't stop thinking about how she'd froze up, run away like a coward. But Lena Luthor was not _supposed_ to be a coward. If there was one thing she had made sure everyone in National City knew about her, it was that she was tough and stood tall in the face of adversity. Though the city's news outlets spent nearly every day trying to tear her down, Lena kept her head up and continued doing what she was doing (because she _knew_ what she was doing at L-Corp was right, no matter what they said). But quite a bit of that toughness and disinterest was a farce, and a way to protect herself, much like her avoidance of all things Christmas. 

There was an insistent knock on her door and the brunette's eyes snapped up quickly. "Ms. Luthor, I'm sorry– Kara Danvers came up here requesting to see you," her secretary popped her head in the doors, and Lena contemplated this for a moment. 

"Go ahead and let her in," she allowed, figuring it wasn't as if she'd been getting any work done anyhow. What could Kara possibly want from her right now? She sincerely hoped it wasn't to beg her for more money– she would not get a penny more for this thing. The CFO shut her laptop and set it aside, waiting comfortably in her chair for Kara to be let into the office. Sure enough, a familiar, toned leg made it through the doorway and the rest of Kara followed, blonde ponytail swinging behind her as she walked into the room. "Kara," Lena greeted, though she did not quite try to force herself to seem more enthused. Kara did not seem to notice, or maybe she didn't really care, as she approached the desk. "What brings you back to my office so soon?"

Kara had a smile growing on her sunny face and Lena narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What's that smile for?" Kara clenched and unclenched her fists at her side as if she could not contain her excitement, and finally began to talk– rather speedily too. "So I know you absolutely _loathe_  Christmas and hate people even  _talking_ about it around you, and you probably don't want to hear even one more thing about the CatCo event–– but I really, really think you should come visit the event venue with me today."

Lena's lips parted as Kara's words sunk into the air and a bit of a strangled sound escaped her, making Kara's eyes widen a bit. "I do _not_  'hate' people talking about Christmas around me, Kara, that is a silly rumor," the CFO stammered out with a bit of offense in her voice. Kara sent her a look that seemed dubious of that statement, and Lena rolled her eyes, revising it. "Okay, I don't very much like it, and would prefer it be avoided, but I would not use the word ' _hate'_." She cleared her throat then, hoping the blush she certainly felt creeping up her cheeks would fade away soon. 

Still, Kara waited expectantly for an answer on her proposition, and Lena was struggling with finding the right response that equated to the words _'absolutely fucking not'_ , but was far more professional and a tad less offensive. 

"I'm not so sure I agree with that proposal, Kara," the woman settled on, picking up a pen that had been tossed haphazardly on her desk and setting it neatly back in her organizer. "No, I don't think I'll be doing that, I'm sorry."

Kara figured that was the exact response she'd get from the CFO, so she decided to opt for the persuasive argument she'd put together on the elevator ride up. "Think about it, Ms. Luthor," Kara began, gesturing with her hands as she spoke, unable to contain her sudden burst of energy. "Even if you didn't actually cancel the event, there are still a lot of employees here at CatCo that weren't, er– well, all that _impressed_ with your first interactions at the all-hands meeting Monday."

She gauged Lena's expression carefully before opting to continue, and seeing that Lena did not challenge her (though the brunette had quirked her eyebrow a bit in warning), went on. 

"But if they find out that you're showing some interest in the event... being involved at least in _some_ way, they might be more likely to forgive and forget," Kara added hastily, a bit of a nervous smile on her lips. "Especially if I'm the one to tell them- being in charge of the event gives me a little more credibility with everyone. You'll get their trust back in no time."

She laced her fingers together in front of her, catching the corner of her lower lip with her teeth. Lena was no longer looking at her, had sat back in her seat and turned away a little. Kara could not know what was running through her mind, though Lena was most definitely contemplating this rather interesting argument. As much as Lena didn't like to be fought with when she made a final decision on something, her desires from day one working at CatCo began to come to mind again. She'd made a mistake, yes– but now there was a way to at least somewhat repair it, to show herself as less of a hot-tempered dictator and more as the invested, accepting and mostly benevolent CFO she'd wanted to be. She didn't necessarily have to like it, love it, or even _enjoy_ it, but at least it would be an attempt at showing some unity. 

"When I make a final decision on something, I don't ever change my mind." Kara's face fell just a little at those words, and her merry heart sunk a little in her chest as she felt defeat settle on her shoulders again. " _But_ –" Kara's eyes snapped back up from her feet, the blonde focusing intently on her superior. "I did not leave the impression I wanted on the employees, and I think your suggestion  _is_ a good way to try to remedy the situation I created."

Lena swiveled back to face Kara fully, not appearing so cheery about what she was going to do but offering a glance that at least said she didn't completely  _disapprove_. "I'll go with you to this venue, solely for the sake of rectifying things. Don't expect me to enjoy it, or even show all that much interest. This is just for the sake of my new position here at CatCo and making sure I'm not hated by all of the employees. God knows what rumors they've heard about me that already gave them a bad impression before the other morning."

The smile that had grown into a beaming ray of joy on Kara's face almost made Lena regret her change of mind. But there was also something endearing about the fervent reaction she received from Kara over the most minuscule of steps in the right direction that softened her up just a little and made her refrain from any further grumpy remarks. 

"You're making the right decision, Ms. Luthor, I promise you," Kara seemed far more convinced about this than the brunette sat before her, and clasped her hands together readily. "Should I meet you at about noon to leave for the venue?"

"Yes, noon will work," Lena agreed, sliding her laptop back over to the center of her workspace. "We'll meet downstairs and take my limo there."

"You- your limo?" Kara couldn't help but go a bit googly-eyed at the sound of that. She'd never ridden in the back of a CEO slash CFO's limo before, and it all sounded so VIP and luxurious compared to public transportation or good, old-fashioned speed-walking. 

However, as someone who had grown up being constantly escorted around in limos and thus considered them entirely unexciting, Lena found the response to be rather humorous. "My limo, yes, Kara," she confirmed with the slightest amused lilt to her voice. She opened up her laptop, gesturing her head towards the door subtly and clearing her throat. 

" _Oh_ , sorry, right– um, good luck with your work and see you at noon!" Kara finished clumsily, brightly, before she turned hastily on her heel and saw herself out of the office, feeling in much better spirits already than she had earlier. Lena hadn't bitten her head off the moment she'd mentioned the event, which had been a major surprise considering she was said to have been pretty nasty to some employees at L-Corp over mention of anything Christmas. Perhaps there wasn't as much truth to the rumors as people said there was– or _maybe_  Lena was starting to like Kara, even just a little. Either way, Kara couldn't stop glancing down at her watch on the way back down to her office, thinking noon couldn't come soon enough. 

* * *

Lena's computer gave a familiar _'whoosh'_ sound as she sent another detailed email, green hues wandering to check the time on the upper right corner of the screen. It was five minutes to noon- time to meet Kara Danvers downstairs to head to the event venue. The more she lingered on it while throwing her jacket on and grabbing her designer purse, the more it left a bad taste in her mouth.  _This is for the good of your reputation, your new position, and the company,_ Lena reminded herself. _You've been given an opportunity to do the right thing by your employees, so quit being a little baby about it and just get it done._

Her well-hidden obsession with her reputation might never have been so insistent within her were it not for Lillian Luthor. Lillian, who constantly nagged at Lena for her mistakes and embarrassments growing up, not even stopping when it was Lex who had made the biggest mistake of all. _'Do not shame the Luthor name'_ – that was what Lena had been conditioned to remember when making all decisions in her life, even the smallest and most insignificant of them. The hypocrisy of it had become most evident to Lena when Lex had ended up in prison and still Lillian had cradled Lex and pitied him as she always had. That was when Lena finally understood that, to Lillian, her entire _existence_ shamed the Luthor name– there was nothing she could do to change that, not even if she never made another mistake in her life. 

Thus, nowadays, Lena cared little about Lillian's opinions of what choices she made, and appeared to the public to be self-assured in her work at LuthorCorp and that she was unlike her cold, greedy stepmother and criminal brother. Still, the mantra wasn't something she could effortlessly shake off. Though she scoffed at the news and their harsh words about her when her well-intentioned decisions didn't always work out, at the rumors people might spread, deep down she was desperate to be seen differently; _better_. And she still made mistakes, still came off too stubbornly or temperamental at times, but she didn't think that made her  _evil_. 

Lena stepped into the elevator and chewed on her cherry-stained lip as it went down. Lillian would not approve of what she was about to go do– the Luthor matriarch would call her weak for being so easily swayed by someone inferior to her and think it absurd that she even cared to try to gain her employees' approval. Though Lena didn't necessarily make decisions to gain everyone else's approval, she did not want to be hated or feared either. She wasn't _ruthless_.

The people who assumed she was did not know as much about her as they thought they did. They had no idea that she was currently working on a cure for cancer at L-Corp- that she anonymously donated millions to charity every year (that anonymity giving the media the opportunity to label her a greedy trust fund baby), and worked herself half to death trying to undo all of the damage Lex had done and regain the trust of the public by developing medical, technological advancements that would benefit the whole of humanity. _But_ _she didn't like Christmas_ , so of _course_ she was a typical, heartless Luthor who wasn't worth giving the benefit of the doubt.

Though, the fact that this seemed to be popular opinion about her made Kara Danvers all the more of a surprise to Lena– even after Lena had shown herself to be the Scrooge everyone said she was, Kara did not seem to hold any particular judgement against her. She was unusually kind and hopeful- almost a little _too_ persistent, but Lena could admire a bit of tenacity, even if it was regarding something she did not care much about herself. Maybe that was why it was getting hard for Lena to completely say no or be incredibly firm with her– because she was one of the few, if any, who seemed to believe she wasn't actually a bad person.

* * *

Meanwhile, the very reporter on Lena Luthor's mind was sitting patiently in the downstairs lobby on a chic leather sofa, clutching her purse close to her chest. When the elevator gave a ding, she turned her head, and seeing it was Lena, rose from her seat eagerly to wait for her boss to approach. "Keen, are you?" Lena didn't even bother to stop walking for the other as she asked the question, heading straight for the building's front doors. Kara, speechlessly parting her lips and growing a smidge flustered, took a few extra long strides to catch back up to Lena. They exited the building, and a cold wind whipped at Kara's cheeks, very quickly making them chilled and ruddy. 

" _No_ , I uh– I'm just happy to see you." That earned a confused, strange glance from Lena, who then switched her attention to the ground to carefully step over a puddle of melting snow with her heeled foot. Kara, upon realizing her words were indeed vague and a tad questionable, hastily clarified. "I was just worried you might have changed your mind about this and not come to meet me, I mean." Lena seemed to appear less suspicious after Kara had further explained herself, and Kara hoped the CFO would mistake the blush that had strengthened in her cheeks as a symptom of the cool weather. 

"I almost did," Lena admitted as she waved for the limo driver to pull up to where the blonde and brunette stood near the curb, both shivering. "Look, let's just get through this quickly so I can be back in my office by one-thirty. I'll be getting an important phone call around then and I need to be at my laptop for it."

"Of course. It shouldn't really take that long, Millwick Gardens isn't far out from downtown." The limo slowed to a stop at the curb before them, and Kara opened the door for Lena to slide in first, quickly following suit to escape the bitter cold. Once they were seated, Kara got distracted taking in the interior of the limo as Lena slid over to the little window to tell Frank the address, then pull out her phone and begin to check her messages. What Kara didn't notice, however, was that Lena suddenly stopped looking at her phone and instead was watching her, curious by her examination of the limo's interior. 

"Kara."

The blonde turned away from gazing at leather seats to look at her with a dumbfounded countenance, blinking. "Ms. Luthor?"

"Have you never been in a limo before?"

Lena was oft to forget some of the privileges she'd had growing up in a wealthy family, and only realized seconds after asking the question that it might have been a bit pompous. But Kara didn't seem to take any offense by it, thankfully, and only shook her head good-naturedly. "No–– _well_ , actually, I _have_  been once, to go to my senior prom with my date and a few other couples. But I only got to ride in it the way there, not back, because, um–" She rubbed the back of her neck, a new shade of red tinting her cheeks and a little, uncomfortable laugh escaping her. "Well, at the end of the night my date and the rest of the group ditched me and I had to call my parents to come pick me up. It was pretty embarrassing, actually." 

Lena stared at Kara in silence, the gaze that was usually impassive now full of sympathy, and the brunette was not entirely sure how to respond to such a pitiful story. How Kara could recall it without even the smallest hint of bitterness in her voice, Lena could not understand– was she just entirely unable to hold a grudge? Lena had to wonder what it was like to live such a way. 

"Anyway, I've never ridden in a limo with a CEO slash CFO, so it's kind of a first experience." The warm hue that had graced Kara's cheeks slowly began to fade away, and she offered Lena a gentle smile while pushing her glasses further up her nose. The Luthor lowered her eyes a bit, wanting to smile but feeling she shouldn't, like it was giving in too much after she'd already gone against her initial decision to visit this place with Kara. "From the day I was taken in by the Luthors, being driven around in a limo became my new normal." At the young age of four, Lena had had to accept a lot of sudden changes in her life, having a personal chauffeur being the least of them. 

"Taken in?" Kara echoed in a baffled tone, tilting her head at Lena. Suddenly melancholy green eyes regarded Kara carefully, as if Lena was determining how much more she wanted to reveal to her. But she'd brought it up, she had to explain herself now. 

"I moved in with the Luthors when I was four– up until then I'd lived with my real mother far away from National City." Lena was being very careful to explain simply, without much emotion. Surprisingly, it was rather easy to do so when it came to her real mother, as she'd been taken from her at such a young age. Her memories of the woman whom she'd evidently looked so very much like were limited, and even those still hanging on by a thread were fast fading. "She got very sick. She was in the hospital, and she couldn't take care of me- so my father came and brought me to his home. I became a Luthor."

Kara's eyes, glistening and unblinking, stayed on Lena as her brows crinkled up. The reporter wanted to ask more, to ask what had happened to Lena's biological mother (though she had a feeling she already knew). But she dare not cross any lines. Not when doing so once before had gotten her reprimanded so callously. Even though Lena had promised it wouldn't happen again, Kara was not one to poke a sleeping dragon after being burnt once already. Instead, she opted to relate to Lena, in some way. 

"I know it's not exactly the same, but when I was adopted by the Danvers, it was a lot to adjust to for me too," Kara shared. "I was thirteen. I lost both my parents. They did important work in Metropolis, trying to help people– it ended up killing them. The Danvers took me in a little while after that. It was hard at first, dealing with that change, but now nothing feels more natural than being a part of their family."

Lena felt a little insensitive, for complaining about changes when at least she'd had one of her parents still in her life for a time. Kara had lost them _both_ – and yet there she was, constantly chipper and always looking at the glass like it was half full. 

"I'm sorry about your parents, I didn't know that," Lena offered, softening just slightly. Kara smiled and shook her head. "You couldn't have known, we've only just met," she reminded Lena, not wanting her to feel guilt. "I guess that's why I love Christmas so much, though. I've got a wonderful family to spend it with, or at least my sister since we both live here in National City. Christmas is all about love, and I have that with my family. Not everybody gets that, and I don't want to ever take it for granted."

And just like that, Kara lost Lena. The brunette slipped back so quickly into her shell, Kara almost missed it as it happened. But she saw the light fade from those pretty green eyes, watched as Lena locked back up and tossed out the key. Her lips pressed together hard as Lena reached for her phone again, muttering, "I need to get back to my emails." Her eyes looked at the screen now, and Kara held in her disappointment for the rest of the car ride. 

* * *

After twenty long minutes of silence, the limo arrived at Millwick Gardens. Frank got the door for the women, and Kara sent him a bright smile as she followed Lena to the entrance. Once inside, Kara was able to explain to one of the employees that she'd rented the venue for an event and needed to check out the space to start determining where things would need to be set up. Someone was brought over to assist her and take her out to the gardens, and Lena kept quiet during the entire thing, just following along.  

"I think we'd be fine setting up tents all along here, right?" Kara inquired they walked along, gesturing to a thick patch of trees that circled the gardens. "Those trees are sturdy, aren't they?"

"Yes, that should be fine, they're sturdy so you shouldn't have anything to worry about," the employee assured her, though Lena was zoned out a bit, taking in the scene. The ground still had litterings of snow here and there, though most snow had melted by this time today so it just barely covered the ground and trees. Still, it was pretty, serene, and Lena could imagine that with a full white blanket of snow on everything it would surely look like a winter wonderland. The thick, spicy smell of the fir and few pine trees in the gardens was highly appealing to Lena. She had to give it to Kara, this venue was the perfect choice. 

"You know, actually, do you have a tape measure?" Kara sighed, turning to the employee. "Totally forgot to bring mine, but I need to take a few measurements while I'm here."

"Of course, Ms. Danvers, I'll just run inside and grab that for you." The redheaded female turned to head back for the main building, which was only one floor, leaving Lena and Kara alone. The brunette was incredibly drawn to the trees, that scent absolutely irresistible, and a need to confirm what inkling she had of their identity strong in her. Kara watched her with intrigue as Lena approached the patch of trees before them, slipping past two of them to go a little deeper. Kara couldn't help but slowly follow, wondering what she was up to. 

Lena had somewhat forgotten about having company as she stopped before one of the trees, drawing a branch down and close to her pink-tipped nose. Her eyes fluttered shut as she inhaled the spicy smell, and when they opened again she peered closely at the tree's flat, needle-like leaves. "This is a balsam fir," she recognized quietly, some semblance of contentment on her face. Kara stared, engulfed in this strange but soft moment. Lena seemed to hesitate, as if there was something on the tip of her tongue she was a little scared to say out loud. But it came pouring out before she knew it.

"It was the only type of Christmas tree my father would get us." Lena's eyes searched until they landed on Kara, though she seemed to be somewhere else behind her eyes, somewhere a long time ago and during a much better time. "He always said it was the best one, because the closer you get to it, the more you get to see. Look." Kara let out a light breath, the heat of it mixing with the cold air and creating something like smoke before she took a step closer to the tree. She pinched at a branch and peered closely behind her glasses. A glimmer of silvery-white flickered, and then another. All of the leaves held a hidden glow to them, only able to be seen up close. 

"It's gorgeous," Kara looked over at Lena again, and found that the CFO had been watching her intently. A flush crept up her neck and onto her cheeks once more, and Lena inhaled deeply, blinking and allowing her eyes to roam elsewhere. 

"Yes, it is." The simple reply seemed to suggest the conversation was over, that Lena had shared enough as it was and that they should move on from it. Kara was just so surprised that Lena had spoken of her own accord about something related to Christmas, to _her_ of all people, that she couldn't even think to push the conversation any further. As she glanced again at the poised, silent woman beside her, she couldn't help but feel that Lena was something akin to this tree of hidden wonders. If Kara only got closer to her, would she continue to uncover more to her than met the public eye? 

"Ms. Danvers? I've got that tape measure."

Kara shook herself back to reality, making her way out of the trees. Lena stayed behind a moment longer, however, shoulders slumped gently as she reluctantly released her hold on the tree branch. It sprung perfectly back into place, as if nothing had ever disturbed it, and Lena longed quietly, desperately to do the same. 


	4. Little (Big) White Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish it hadn't taken me this long to update but SAD/anxiety has been hitting harrrd my dudes. I though I'd finally do a (short) chapter for Christmas eve though!!

On the drive back to CatCo, there was an unusual silence in the back of the limo. Lena's eyes kept flickering up from her phone to analyze Kara, the CEO thinking back on her openness at the gardens. It might not have been the _best_ decision to share something so personal with Kara–– after all, they weren't exactly close friends. They'd only just met, literally, a few days ago. But there was something inherently trustworthy about this wide-eyed, friendly young reporter, and Lena had never before encountered someone who treated her with such kindness with no underlying intentions seeming to be behind it.

And it wasn't as if Lena had been the only one to be honest about her life. Kara _had_ told her about her own situation growing up, being adopted, and so Lena felt there'd been a pretty even give and take between them that absolved her of a little shame in her candor. Another important lesson in the Luthor household was not to be naively trusting of other people or reveal too much to them– Lillian had been sure to make Lena constantly fear that people would try to get close to her because of her name, and that they would always be seeking to take advantage of her. So it was safe to say Lena had not had many tight-knit friendships growing up, as she was constantly concerned she would place too much trust in someone who would eventually turn on her. 

It was because of this conditioning that Lena had to make some effort to protect herself, even if she had no real reason to believe Kara would betray her confidence.  

"Kara..."

The named woman glanced up from her own phone, where she had been working in her notes. She could see that Lena was struggling to say something, and thus she tried her best to appear unassuming. 

"I would greatly appreciate if the... _sensitive_  information I shared with you this afternoon remained between us." Lena spoke with a poise and persuasiveness, though it didn't seem like she was trying to boss Kara around either. Though Lena Luthor would never beg, there was a slight pleading quality to her eyes that Kara could not ignore. 

"Of course, Ms. Luthor." Kara smiled softly, bowing her head in accordance. She hadn't planned on telling anyone anyway– why did Lena think she would? She tried not to attribute the request to Lena finding her dishonest, but rather to the Luthor most likely having to constantly be concerned about people selling her personal information to the highest bidder. 

"Thank you," Lena cleared her throat a little, tongue slipping out to wet her pink-tinted lips. "Aside from that, I was going to ask–"

Suddenly, Kara's stomach gave a loud, threatening rumble. The reporter looked down at her traitorous abdomen with a slack jaw, then back up at Lena with spots of pink beginning to appear on the apples of her cheeks. "– if you'd like grab lunch on the way back to the office," Lena finished, smirking not so subtly. 

"If you don't mind stopping," Kara said, a little laugh of embarrassment leaving her. "Not at all..." Lena moved over to the little window, speaking. "Northern Cafe, please, Frank."

Kara's eyebrows rose at the request. Northern Cafe was a somewhat upscale Chinese restaurant, one that she had only ever been to on special occasions due to the price range of the menu. On a reporter's salary, lunch tended to be from home or cheap take-out. Lena turned back to face Kara, and caught a glimpse of the slight panic in her blue eyes. 

"Is that all right?" she asked with a light frown. 

"Yeah I just– well, it's a bit out of my price range," Kara admitted in a bit of a fluster, shoving up her glasses with two fingers. 

"It's a good thing I'm paying, then," Lena shrugged nonchalantly. Immediately, Kara's mouth opened in protest. "Ms. Luthor, I–"

"Please, Kara, it's the least I can do. You _are_ helping me get back into the good graces of the employees at CatCo, so I think it's only fair I buy you lunch today."

Kara seemed to want to protest again, but the dark brow that arched at her convinced her to simply press her lips together into a tiny, grateful smile and nod. 

* * *

"A giant fried rice and chicken dish, _plus_ two large orders of potstickers," Lena glanced at the bag of food Kara held carefully before her as the two women made their way back into the CatCo building. "I can't imagine where you put it all." Her green eyes scanned the lithe, toned body beside hers, wondering how Kara stayed in such great shape when she ate that much food. She didn't like vegetables either, apparently, as when Lena had ordered a dish with bok choy, the blonde had screwed her face up in utter disgust. 

"I _love_ potstickers," Kara gushed, practically drooling at the thought of the steaming hot potstickers wrapped up in the very bag she was carrying. "I don't think I eat them so much as _**inhale**_ them, honestly."

Now that got a small, but genuine smile out of Lena. It didn't go unnoticed by Kara.

"Is that– is that a smile? Like, a _real_ _smile?_ " Lena immediately forced the smile off her face, feigning ignorance entirely. "I don't know what you're talking about," Lena sniffed.

"Oh, no, that was definitely a smile," Kara insisted with a bubbly laugh, making the Luthor's cheeks warm up. 

"Don't push it, Ms. Danvers," the CFO warned with a grimace, though not as solemnly as was normal for her, as they entered the building and walked over to the elevators. "Today's venture was for _purely_ professional purposes, remember that."

"So there's not even the tiniest bit of friendship here?" Kara looked over at the woman beside her, clearly teasing (though was she?). "I mean, you do know what my favourite food is now ... that means we have some kind of bond now, I think." Lena side-eyed Kara hard, lips pursed in what was obvious disagreement. 

"I'm your boss, not your friend, Kara," the brunette stated just as the elevator doors opened. "Don't forget that."

Kara stood frozen on the spot, somewhat amused as Lena stepped in, and her superior pressed the button. The doors slid shut, though Kara made no move to stop them, standing there silently as she mused over the CFO's behaviour. No matter how many times Lena suddenly switched up on her and reverted back to that serious, intimidating boss, the reporter knew she couldn't resist Kara's friendly demeanor forever. 

* * *

Though Kara handled the majority of the planning for the Christmas event herself, she had a small team consisting of a few other employees who helped with whatever other tasks she assigned them to. Considering how many phone calls and adjustments were having to be made with the new budget, Kara had had no choice but to call them all together so she could request their assistance with some of the things on her list. 

"Okay, since our budget has been decreased I cut down the list of food vendors and caterers," Kara announced to the few coworkers that sat around the table in the break room with her. "Since some of them have really strict cancellation policies, I only cut the ones that would still allow us to cancel at this date. I'd really appreciate it if someone could go ahead and start calling some of the rejects to let them know we'd like to cancel."

Liam Wright, an employee from HR, raised his hand from across the table. "I can go ahead and get started on that for you."

"Great," Kara beamed at him, already pulling out the piece of paper on which she'd neatly outlined which vendors were to be called. "Here you go." Someone passed it along to Liam, and Kara glanced again at her to-do list. 

"Um, if someone else doesn't mind calling the A/V company, just to confirm the date and time we need them to be there for setup, that's another thing we can check off the list," Kara added, looking back up at the group members. Janelle, another CatCo reporter whom Kara got along with really well, spoke up. 

"Just pass me the number and it's done," she said, offering Kara an amicable smile, which was eagerly returned.

"Thanks, Janelle. Really, everyone, I think the best way you guys can help me is buying cheap necessities, things like table cloths, plates and cups, supplies that we don't necessarily have to spend good money on. I also need Christmas crafts for the kids, which you can get tons of at any dollar store. Just text me what you're trying to buy so I can keep track of how much we have and how much we're spending. Anything you do get, you can bring to me here or drop off at my place, okay?"

A chorus of agreements at her offer sounded, and she visibly eased up, her shoulders having been tensed a bit. "I know this isn't exactly ideal, but I'm trying to get thrifty where I can and make this budget work for us this year. I think we'll be fine, but I won't be able to relax until the day comes and everything is in place." She chuckled nervously, adjusting the watch on her wrist. 

"It's just so crappy that Lena Luthor did this to you, to _us_ ," Isaac Owens scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat beside Kara. "Just because she bought the company doesn't mean she has to ruin Christmas for all of us like she does for her L-Corp employees." Kara opened her mouth a little to speak, beginning to uncomfortably sense where the conversation was going, but Janelle spoke again next, rendering her silent. 

"And she did it on such short notice, she had to know how difficult it would be for you to cancel things and rework it all to fit a smaller budget. I mean, you've been planning for a few months now, and she switches it up only three weeks before the event?"

Everyone else to began to grumble, throwing in their own opinions about Miss Lena Luthor and her war on Christmas, and Kara began to grow rather hot under her blouse at this discourse. She felt a bit like a traitor, having begun to get somewhat friendly with Lena, and even _like_ her. But there was simply not a mean bone in Kara Danvers' body, not even when it came to a Scrooge like Lena who had humiliated her in front of her coworkers, her _friends_ , and made life a little more stressful for her this Christmas. She couldn't sit there and join in on this bashing, it wasn't something she could bring herself to do. 

Besides, Kara, being as perceptive and curious as any reporter ought to be, was less focused on how Grinch-y Lena was, and more interested in  _why_ she detested the holiday season so much. The little information the CFO had shared with her earlier that day had been stored away in the back of Kara's mind for later, and in the case Lena opened up to her some more at some point, perhaps the puzzle pieces would begin clicking into place. No one was born with a cold heart –– there was something more to it that no one had seemingly ever bothered to determine when it came to Lena. 

"I completely forgot, I wanted to tell you guys I checked out the event venue today," Kara interrupted, garnering the attention of her colleagues. "Yeah, I went around lunchtime to scope it out and start figuring out how we're gonna set up everything. Lena actually went _with_ me to the gardens."

She was met with dumbfounded stares all around, and the strangest sense of satisfaction filled up her chest as she suddenly challenged their views of Lena. "No, no way," Janelle insisted then, leaning forward in her seat. "We've heard the stories, she'd have chopped your head off if you'd asked her to go with you."

A smile began to grow on Kara's face, and she tried not to look all that smug about the fact she'd been the only person to defy the norm with Lena. "Well, she didn't, my head is still very much intact," Kara assured the brunette with a little laugh. "Listen, guys, she's _really_ not as bad as you think. She wants to try to get involved with important stuff here at CatCo, and she didn't mean to come off the way she did at the staff meeting. She apologized to me and felt bad about it. And, I mean, if she really absolutely hated Christmas and the event, do you think she'd take time away from her work to come look at the venue with me?"

"She would if she wanted to get back into the employees' good graces, yeah," Isaac scoffed, not so easily convinced by Kara's words. 

"Don't be so cynical," Kara rolled her eyes. "I just wouldn't be so hard on her, that's all. She's showing genuine interest, that's **good**."

"She still cut the budget –– if she really cared she wouldn't have done that." Janelle shrugged her shoulders, just as cynical as Isaac. Kara was beginning to feel a little defeated –– but she had promised Lena this would work, and the woman had bought her all those potstickers, for Christ's sake! She had to convince them better than this. 

"The money that we won't have for the event is probably going to go to really important things for CatCo, things that will probably benefit all of us," Kara argued, looking at the table and shoving her glasses up her nose in frustration. "Maybe you'll realize she's not exactly the big Scrooge everyone says she is when she shows up to the event." The moment the  ~~big~~  little white lie escaped her lips, Kara regretted it. A series of expletives ran through her mind at top speed and she hoped no one noticed the flush creeping up her neck at her major mistake.

"Wait –– she's coming to the party?" Liam's eyebrows rose at this and Kara nodded with tight lips, an unusually pitched and not so convincing _'Mhm'_ sounding behind them. More glances were exchanged, though now it seemed the tension was decreasing a little, to Kara's relief. 

"Lena Luthor at a Christmas party," Janelle mused with a light scoff and arched brow. "Now that's a major first. I don't know if I can believe it."

"Oh, well, it's true!" Kara said in a bright, off-pitch tone in an attempt to make her lie more convincing. "She told me herself, she wants to go and show solidarity with the CatCo employees, all of us. Give her a chance, I promise she's not as terrible as everyone makes her out to be."

No one could seem to argue with her, and still appeared simply hung up on the fact Lena was going to a Christmas party at all. In her entire time here in National City, Lena Luthor had never done such a thing, and it was almost groundbreaking. 

"Well, it's a step in the right direction, I guess," Liam offered, glancing around at his peers. "If you say she's trying to be more involved and isn't all that bad, I believe you."

"I'll believe it when I see her at the party," Janelle added herself, still skeptical but seeming not to find any reason to distrust Kara. "But I guess her going with you today... well, that's something to take note of."

Kara couldn't help but smile even as Isaac grumbled something similar to the woman, feeling as though she had accomplished something very important. She was certain this information would spread from the small group in this room to the other employees and thus, slowly, Lena would be seen in a far less negative light.

Though, her smile faltered as she realized that in trying to save Lena's reputation, she'd also accidentally informed everyone that Lena would be attending the very party she'd originally wanted to cancel. Though Lena had left Kara's head intact when she'd requested her company checking out the gardens, she wasn't so sure that would remain the case when she informed the CFO people expected her at the event on the 22nd. She didn't have to tell her right away though, did she? Kara waved the problem away and returned her attention to her helpers. 

"So, for kids crafts, here's what I was thinking..."

 


	5. Slips and Slip Ups

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a SECOND chapter because i think i owe it to you guys and it's christmas so i'm in the giving mood lolol. more focus on a lena and kara interaction this particular chapter although it's kinda angsty so sorryyy

On Friday the 7th, sometime after work, Kara went out shopping for more supplies. She'd googled plenty of tutorials on how to make certain decorations and had found creative Christmas crafts galore on Pinterest, so she had a good idea of what things she needed to buy. The dollar store had the most lovely Christmas table cloths, so she'd grabbed plenty of those, and considering they'd get dirty with food and glue and all sorts of things it wasn't like they needed to be expensive anyway. On top of that, she got disposable cups for hot chocolate and eggnog, and depending on how artsy she was feeling she could decorate those too. 

Unfortunately, she had no one to accompany her to the shops, and no car of her own, so she teeter-tottered along the pavement with arms loaded down with bags. The walk home wasn't super far, or so she'd convinced herself, so she'd simply covered her lower face with her big scarf and braced herself for the cold evening. Kara carefully sidestepped patches of snow and ice on the sidewalk, though her glasses had begun to fog up with the breaths that floated out of the top of her scarf. She mumbled to herself in annoyance, trying to reach up with a heavily-weighed down arm to shove her glasses further up. 

Lena sat in the back of her limo, gazing out the window at the shops decorated with bright, distracting lights and the people that streamed in and out of their doors, already shopping for Christmas. She had never gone Christmas shopping before, not even as a child. During her younger years, she had just always known, at some point, tons of presents would appear under the tree (most likely thanks to the house staff) and on Christmas morning that amount would certainly be doubled after Santa's arrival. Of course, Lena had stopped believing in Santa at a rather young age, being a perceptive young girl and determining it was not at all logically sound to believe one man could give every child in the world presents in only a few hours unless he was able to find some theoretical passage through space-time.

But regardless of that, Christmas had once upon a time been quite magical for her, as her father had always gone above and beyond to make it special for her and Lex. Lillian had never cared much either way about making Christmas wonderful for them, though she humored Lionel and allowed him to do as he pleased with the Luthor children. Thus, he spared no expense, having his staff buy them all sorts of fantastical gifts and decorate their large estate with the most beautiful decor. In some way, perhaps he'd felt he owed Lena all of it, having abandoned her for the first four years of her life. But Lena had never gone Christmas shopping herself as she'd grown into an adult, the magic of Christmas having died inside of her long ago. She didn't go to Christmas parties or have friends with whom she was expected to exchange gifts with –– so no gift shopping was done during the Christmas season by Lena Luthor unless it was for herself. 

As her limo slowed down behind a line of cars stopped at a red light, Lena's eyes latched onto a strangely familiar figure that was walking along the pavement, or more so waddling like a penguin with the bags on their arms. Lena could see glimmers of golden hair that the person's cap did not cover, and she quickly realized it was Kara Danvers she was seeing. Just as the limo stopped fully, Kara tried to sidestep a little pile of snow, unfortunately missing a spot of slick ice on the sidewalk as she looked away. It was like when people slipped on a banana peel in the movies –– before Lena could think to roll down the window and call out, Kara's booted foot began to slip out from under her and her body tilted back. Flailing wildly, the blonde could not stop the pull of gravity and as things flew out of her bags, her butt and back and head made contact with the hard ground. 

"Frank, pull over!" Lena alerted her driver, hand already on the door handle as her limo slid over to the curb. She pushed open the door and jumped out, more careful than Kara in avoiding any ice, and hurried over to the fallen woman. As she looked down, Kara stared straight up, glasses askew on her shocked face and an assortment of art craft materials and bags of disposable cups littered around her. 

"Lena?" she blinked, hand stretching out to accept Lena's. "Wh-What are you doing here? Did I hit my head hard enough to hallucinate?"

"You're not hallucinating," Lena said with a strained groan as she helped the very slender, but surprisingly dense blonde up from the ground. Kara groaned herself at the pain in her tailbone, adjusting her glasses and pulling a bag back up her arm. Lena began picking up her lost items as Kara blinked away the slight dizziness, before she managed to turn to her savior. Lena held out the rest of her bags, now refilled with her things, and the young woman accepted thankfully.

"Are you okay? I was driving by and saw you completely wipe out on the ice."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good, my butt just hurts a lot," Kara winced, rubbing her bottom as Lena tried not to laugh. "I thought I could make it home without having to call a cab, but I'm gonna end up spending more money at the chiropractor getting my back fixed after that spill anyway. Jeez."

Lena hesitated for a moment, looking back at her limo. She could just wave and head back off again, allowing Kara to more carefully finish her journey home. She didn't much like to interact with her employees outside of work, and even stepping out of her limo to help Kara get back on her feet had been out of her normal comfort zone. But something in her gave, as it increasingly seemed to when she was around Kara, and she inquired, "How far are you from here? I could give you a ride home. I'm worried you'll end up with a concussion before you can even make it to your block."

Kara's face flushed and she swallowed. "Oh, well, I mean, I guess if you wouldn't mind... I'm only a few blocks away. I don't want to inconvenience you, though."

Lena refrained from informing Kara she'd already pulled her out of her way by flopping to the ground like that right in front of her and requiring assistance. "I wasn't in any rush anyway. Come on."

Lena pulled open the door and allowed Kara to slide in with her bags before following. How strange that they were once again sharing her limo in only a span of a few days, all alone. Not many could say they'd ever had the opportunity with Lena. Kara found it painful sitting in the car, but figured a little butt pain was better than cracking her head open slipping on more ice. How odd that Lena had appeared at just the right moment, though she was incredibly grateful for it. 

"Gravity was bound to take you down with all those bags on your arms," Lena remarked as the limo peeled away from the curb. 

"I know –– I just had all this stuff to get for the event and I've got to start making the decorations now so... I grabbed as much as I could handle for tonight."

Lena couldn't stop herself, just this once, from saying something about that damned party. "Looks like this party is more trouble than it's worth."

Kara was close to saying that it was only more trouble right now because of Lena's decision to cut the budget, but it would hardly be in the Christmas spirit to get snarky. And besides, she was trying to bring Christmas cheer to Lena's life, and that meant remaining bright-eyed in the face of all her Scrooge-y cynicism.

"I've been doing this event for the past few Christmases, and thus far it's been worth it every single year no matter what little stress may come," Kara disagreed kindly, keeping a smile on her face. "It'll take more than a little knock to the butt to make me throw in the towel."

Lena said nothing further to that, though her pursed lips conveyed the slight disdain she still held for this whole thing to Kara quite obviously.

"I live on Birch Street," Kara then said, hoping to change the subject and ease the awkward tension in the air. Lena was happy to take a moment to inform Frank of the address, chastising herself then for her rude remark. It was hard to check herself sometimes, having gone so long up until now being far more intolerant of Christmas. Normally she wouldn't give a second thought to feeling guilty about acting like the Grinch, but for some reason, around Kara she wanted to do better. Maybe it was that she'd promised Kara there would be no more anger and rudeness, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was more than that. 

* * *

They made it to Kara's loft in a matter of minutes, and it soon dawned upon Lena as they were pulling up to her building that Kara couldn't possibly bring all of these bags up by herself. After all, carrying them all on her lonesome had not gone down so well previously. The brunette swallowed as she looked out the window, not so keen on the idea of going near Kara's place. It was crossing a certain line, mainly one concerning employer and employee, and Lena had done very well over the years as CEO at L-Corp keeping from crossing that line. But as hard as Lena was trying to avoid any sort of actual relationship forming between her and Kara, recent happenstances made it nearly impossible for her to avoid it. 

"I'll help you bring some of your bags up," Lena offered tentatively, and Kara could see in her features that she wasn't super enthused about it. 

"You really don't have to," Kara shook her head. If Lena didn't want to help her, she wasn't sure she wanted her assistance. She was beginning to feel like a bit of a burden to the woman, though she had no idea it wasn't Lena's disdain for helping someone so much as her reluctance to further insert herself into areas of Kara's personal life. 

"Don't be ridiculous, you can't possibly make it up there by yourself with all of these bags," Lena insisted with a slight snappish quality to her voice, and Kara felt it was best not to further disagree. She couldn't understand Lena half the time. It was hard for Kara to follow Lena's constant mood changes, her flip-flopping from someone Kara felt she could actually get closer to to this closed-off and angry person. Kara had quite a bit of patience, but it was already beginning to feel like one step forward, two steps backward with Lena. 

"Okay." She handed off some of the bags, avoiding Lena's eyes as she exited the limo and approached the building's entrance. She let them in, being sure to stay in front to avoid having to look at Lena. Meanwhile, the brunette had already realized how hurtful her tone had probably been, but Lena had never been all that good at apologies. Not like it was something Lillian had ever encouraged, considering the Luthor matriarch had never shown remorse for anything wrong she'd ever done in her own life. But Lena did aspire to be better than the woman who had taken a vague position as her mother growing up, and that meant offering an apology for unkind actions, even if it wasn't easy. 

"I'm sorry," Lena apologized once they stood before Kara's front door, feeling that she must seem so repetitive to Kara, who had already dealt with her mood changes enough. "It's not that I don't want to help you. I just... don't do _this_."

She gestured around ambiguously, and Kara gave a strange, sarcastic smile as she unlocked her door. "What? See where your employees live?"

"I just think it's best to maintain a healthy distance from the people that work for me," Lena explained. The blonde had a feeling that Lena maintained more than a healthy distance from _everyone_ , not just her employees; she tried very hard to be distant, and sometimes she started to slip up so she overcompensated by pushing people away with unkind words and unbridled anger. That was what she kept doing to Kara – she couldn't seem to just be okay with being open. 

"You know, it's okay to get close to people," Kara said, abandoning her work at the lock and turning to look at Lena, who was dumbstruck by her sudden words. "I know I'm no one special to a CEO slash CFO, so I get it if you don't particularly want to get to know me. But you don't have to suddenly shut off and push people away by being mean all the time when you start to get close to them. I mean, doesn't it get exhausting?" 

Lena's eyes were unblinking, unmoving, and she stared slightly agape at the one woman who had finally dared to call her out for her way of life for the past thirteen years. The truth was, it did get tiresome, keeping her defenses up and avoiding letting any relationships progress in a positive direction. For relationships of any kind to advance, one had to open up, expose themselves, and Lena simply could not bring herself to be vulnerable for anyone.

That was why everyone attributed her dislike of Christmas to every reason but the real one. And she'd never given them the chance to pity her by revealing the truth, because when people pitied you, it meant you were feeble, weak. God, how she sounded like Lillian. It _would_ be so much easier to let up a little and give someone, even just one person, the chance to see what was behind her shields of steel. She was so very tired, no matter how stubborn she seemed. 

"Yes," she finally spoke, swallowing as she stared at Kara, whose brows had furrowed. "It does."

Looking into Lena's eyes, Kara could tell how deeply her words had struck the woman. As much as it hurt when Lena began to act coldly towards her, she had to remember that there was a reason Lena utilized such a defense mechanism. In her own time, Lena would ease up, and Kara didn't want to throw in the towel before that time came. She had always been the kind of girl to be a friend to those who needed one– Lena was in desperate need of a friend, even if she could not see it just yet. 

"Thank you for the ride home," the blonde sighed quietly, gently pushing her door open. "And for helping me. I'll see you on Monday, Lena."

Lena handed off the bags in her own hands, unable to find any words as Kara took her things in and shut the door. The brunette stood outside the door for a few more seconds, wondering why she couldn't just be normal. Why she had to be mean and shove people away even if she started to feel like she might want them closer. Kara was unfailingly kind to her and Lena treated her so terribly– even if she _wanted_  to become friends with Kara, she'd be so terribly undeserving of the reporter's companionship. No one should have to deal with someone so erratic and unpredictable, not even someone as patient as Kara Danvers. 

Dejectedly, the Luthor stepped away from the door and made her way out of Kara's building, thinking maybe the tabloids weren't so wrong about her. She wasn't a nice person, and she wasn't sure when she ever would be. As she walked down the hallway, Kara backed away from the peephole in her door, heart sinking in her chest. She hadn't meant to make Lena feel badly about herself, but her feelings had been hurt and she'd just wanted Lena to understand what she'd done. However, it might not have been the best way to go about it, and she sincerely hoped she hadn't foiled all chances of becoming a friend to the lonely Luthor. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short ik forgive me i have more wholesome content on the way i promise!! lena's just a stubborn babe so kara is definitely having some ups and downs trying to get her to open up and be okay with the idea of having a friend


	6. Call Me Lena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shion24 left a lovely comment on this story and mentioned how it's a bit of a slow burn, and it's funny but that didn't even occur to me until they said it! I guess now that I'm getting a good pace with the story and their relationship it definitely makes sense though, and I did want to get the sense of their gradual transition from enemies, to friends, to (hint hint) lovers. This chapter definitely emphasizes their actual transition to something like friends, and I hope you enjoy it and also some Sam/Alex thrown in there!

When Kara woke up Saturday morning, the aching pain in her butt and lower back reminded her of the previous evening's events– including her tense moment with Lena. Her stomach rolled with discomfort at the memory of how she'd called her boss out for her behavior. It had been way out of line for Kara to confront her the way she had, she knew that, but what bothered her the most about it was that evidently her words had been so cutting that Lena hadn't even been able to respond angrily, or threateningly. She'd seen the way the woman's form had slumped, the trouble in her eyes as she'd watched her leave through the peephole of her door. 

As much as she tried to reassure herself that she hadn't been mean, just honest, it still wouldn't sit well with Kara. She wished she had Lena's number so she could at least text her and apologize, but as she glanced at her phone she was distracted instead by a text from her sister. 

_'Wanna grab brunch with me and Sam around 11 and then go Christmas shopping? Ruby is spending the day with a friend so Sam wants to get ahead of the game with gift shopping lol'_

Thinking brunch and Christmas shopping with Alex and Sam might lift her spirits, Kara quickly typed out her reply after checking the time. She had about an hour to get ready. 

_'Yeah, totally! Text me where you wanna eat and I'll meet you guys there :)'_

She set her phone on her nightstand then, running a hand through messy blonde tresses and chewing on the inside of her cheek. Come Monday she could apologize to Lena and hopefully mend things– for now, she ought to enjoy time with family and concern herself with more work for the event. She got out of bed and started her shower, stripping and stepping into the hot water. 

* * *

Lena had not slept well at all, despite finishing off a whole bottle of wine on her own the previous evening. Kara's words from that night had echoed in her head even as she'd laid in bed, trying to get some rest. Though she CFO had apologized vaguely about her snappish behavior, it hadn't been enough and she knew it. From the moment she'd walked into CatCo she'd found one way after another to hurt Kara Danvers, or at least resist her attempts at being friendly with her superior. And when she did give in to the other's magnetic pull, she still found a way to cut her off and lock her out again. 

Why did she even care so much about letting Kara become a friend to her? Never before had there been a person she'd given this much thought toward, that she'd felt guilt over for pushing them away. She couldn't explain it. All she knew was that she preached and promised about being a better person than everyone assumed a Luthor was, and then she failed miserably trying to put it into practice. She couldn't go on like this forever, or she would end up like her brother, like her adoptive mother.

Eventually, the young woman had fallen asleep with a certain resolve regarding Kara Danvers– not entirely steady, but it was there nonetheless. And by morning, the first thing she'd done was snatch up her phone and text James Olsen. 

_'You wouldn't happen to have Kara Danvers' phone number, would you?'_

She chewed on her nails for a moment as she waited for a response, before ultimately getting up to brew herself some coffee. The coffee beans she brewed at home were well over $350 a pound, of course– Lena Luthor had expensive taste, that much she and the rest of the Luthors had in common. As her equally pricey coffee maker began to press out the hot drink her phone gave a little ding, and she swiped it off the counter. 

_'I do. What do you need it for?'_

Lena chewed on her thumbnail momentarily, wondering what excuse to give James. She didn't much feel the need to let him in on personal business between her and Kara, so she came up with a lie (that she hoped would be convincing).

_'I just want to remind her about something concerning the event budget. I'd appreciate if you could send her number to me.'_

There was an extra moment of quiet on James' end, a few bubbles appearing before he finally sent her what she was hoping for. 

 _'Thank you.'_   She sent the last message before adding Kara to her contacts, fingers hovering over the new message screen. What exactly should she say? _'I'm sorry that I shut people out and am incapable of making actual friends because for the past decade of my life I was isolated within my own family and I've been constantly taught showing emotions is weak'_ just didn't seem to cut it. She took a minute to pour herself some coffee and ponder over how to word her text message to Kara. 

* * *

Kara ran inside The Broken Yolk Cafe just as a mighty and cold gust of wind slammed the door shut behind her. It was a very chilly winter day, and she'd wrapped herself up in full gear to stay toasty. A matching set of pale blue hat, scarf, and gloves covered most exposed skin while a grey coat kept her body insulated. There was nothing like a stack of hot waffles drenched in sweet syrup on a day like this, with a side of cinnamon hot cocoa to wash it all down. 

"Hey! Right on time!" Sam said brightly as Kara walked up to her and Alex, offering a pearly white smile to her sister-in-law to be. "Good to see you, Kara."

"You too, Sam!" the younger Danvers sister laughed cheerfully and leaned in to give Sam a hug as Alex watched on contentedly. " _Morning_ , Al."

"Morning, sis," the redhead replied with a gentle smile, now taking her turn to envelope Kara (or rather, be enveloped herself) in a warm hug. "I thought it might do you some good to have yourself a nice, fat stack of strawberry waffles after the week you've had."

Kara had updated her sister on her trip out to the venue with Lena and subsequent interactions, though had yet to tell her about the previous night's confrontation. Kara's brows rose and she nodded in full agreement, fingers pushing her glasses higher as the hostess lead the three of them to a table. "Yeah, that would honestly do me a _world_ of good right now."

"Alex has told me all about your first week with Lena working at CatCo," Sam remarked somewhat wryly as they took their seats, slinging her purse around her chair back. "Lena's a terrific businesswoman, very intelligent and hardworking. But..."

"She's a giant Ebenezer Scrooge," Alex finished for her fiance, and Sam grimaced slightly. 

"Well, sort of," Sam said. "I know from working with her that she's nowhere near as terrible as so many people make her out to be. But when it comes to Christmas, she's pretty zero-tolerance. I'm honestly just surprised she even went with you to the event venue the other day."

Kara set her menu to the side with a slight, awkward chuckle, not bothering to open it as she already knew what she wanted to order. "I might have negotiated with her a bit," she explained. "It was mainly just to get the employees to like her after her, um, rocky start. But she's actually not been as bad as I thought when it comes to the whole Christmas thing."

"It's probably because it's you." Alex flipped her short curtain of red hair to the side and out of her face, smirking. "Maybe she's starting to like you. I mean, you are the most likable person to probably ever exist. How couldn't she?"

Kara's cheeks lit up instantly at that, and she shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. "I'm not so sure about that," she said lightly, pursing her lips and moving her glass of water over just a tad. "But I'm trying to be friendly to her, no matter how she acts towards me. I think she's just really lonely, and that's why she's so adamant against the holiday season. That was the case with the Grinch right? He was just lonely, and everyone had this really negative view of him so he just went along with it to keep his feelings from being hurt. That's how Lena is, I think."

"We're psychoanalyzing the Grinch now?" Alex grinned, though her eyes sparkled with an undistinguishable glimmer at Kara's defense of Lena. "Maybe you're right though. Not having friends or family during Christmas can make it a really tough season to get through."

"It's true," Sam added softly then, offering a slight smile. "Back when it was just me and Ruby, Christmas was kind of rough. Even though there was nothing more magical than spending the holiday with my little bundle of joy, it was just me and a little girl who couldn't understand why she didn't have any parents or grandparents to shower her with gifts, a big family to have a nice Christmas dinner with..."

Alex, with sympathetic, loving eyes, reached over to take her fiance's hand as it rested in her lap, and Sam squeezed it tenderly. "That's why I'm grateful we're a part of your family now. We don't have to spend Christmas alone anymore, and Ruby finally gets to feel what it's like to be surrounded by a bunch people who love her and want to make it a special holiday for her."

Kara's head was tilted slightly at Sam and she smiled saccharinely, blue eyes clouded with affection. She too could recall how her first Christmas with the Danvers had changed the season for her forever. She hadn't fully considered that aside from not just having a friend, maybe Lena didn't have a family to spend the season with. Her brother was in prison, and that was why Lena had come to National City just two years ago to take over L-Corp. And from what little she knew of Lillian Luthor, the woman was formidable, and didn't seem at all like the loving mother type to Kara. She knew Lionel Luthor no longer existed in the picture either, though he had passed so long ago Kara didn't know all the details. But it was no wonder Lena didn't like the holiday season. It probably just felt like an emphasis of how alone she was. 

"Well, we're glad you're a part of our family," Kara spoke up again, and Alex, often expressing her feelings subtly, had the softest smile on her face as she nodded once in agreement. "I don't think I really considered that being another big part of why Lena is the way that she is. Maybe if she just didn't feel so alone, she'd actually like Christmas again."

Though she didn't necessarily believe Lena had a heart that was two sizes too small like the Grinch, she figured perhaps it was covered by a thin layer of ice that simply needed to be thawed out by a little love and compassion. 

"Good morning! What can I get for you ladies today?"

All three women placed their attention on the waiter as he went around taking their brunch orders. Just as Kara was giving hers, her phone went off in her purse. When the menus had been collected and the waiter had left to put in their orders, Sam and Alex began to chat about gifts for Ruby while Kara pulled her phone out of her purse. The number was unknown, and she frowned gently as she unlocked the device and read the message. 

_'Kara- it's Lena. I got your number from James, I hope that's all right. I know I apologized last night for how I was acting, but it wasn't exactly a proper apology. I keep having to apologize to you, and I really should just stop doing things to have to apologize for, but I'm afraid I'm a bit of a work in progress. Honestly... it is tiring, constantly shutting people out and going on the offensive whenever I feel myself getting too close to someone. I'm sorry you've been having to deal with that as of late. You're very kind and I'm just not used to someone being so nice to me without having some ulterior motive, nor am I exactly used to trusting people enough to become friends with them. I may not like Christmas, but... I do somewhat like you. I would like to us to be friendly with each other, if you aren't completely fed up with me already. I can't promise that I'll be great at this, but I am willing to try to be better.'_

Kara glanced over the text several times, letting it sink in that Lena actually wanted to become friendly with her. She had begun to feel that it was all one-sided and she was trying to reach out to someone who didn't want to be bothered. Slowly, a smile curved her lips, and she breathed in softly, deeply, in satisfaction. Although, she hadn't expected Lena to apologize, nor had she thought the woman ought to considering it had been Kara who had called her out not to subtly or kindly. But the fact Lena had anyway (and that she wanted to be friends!) was something unexpected and uncharacteristically nice, and Kara felt that she could trust her offer to do better from here on out. 

"What are you smiling about?" Alex inquired with an amused smile of her own, watching her sister curiously. 

"Nothing- just some good news," Kara said easily, setting her phone back in her bag and growing unusually giddy. "Okay, they better hurry up with my waffles or I _**cannot**_ be held responsible for what hangry Kara does."

"Easy there, Bottomless Pit," Alex warned and Sam laughed, a big grin settling on Kara's face as the women resumed their interactions. 

* * *

Lena had spent quite a bit of time typing, erasing, and retyping her text to Kara in order to make sure she worded everything she was feeling just right. Feelings weren't something she often expressed, so it was perhaps understandable that it would take her several tries to get it right. Once the text had finally been sent, she had taken a seat on her lavish sofa and thrown a blanket over herself, playing a waiting game with the other woman. At some point while she'd been distracted ordering some brunch through UberEats, she'd suddenly remembered to check the status of her message and quickly switched apps, her nerves on fire.

 _Read_. She'd read the text. 

Thus far, she could not see Kara replying. No typing bubbles appeared, not even as she waited several minutes. Perhaps she was busy. Or maybe she was still upset with Lena. Either way, the CEO was far too anxious to be left on read. She'd never reached out like this to anyone, and it would certainly sting if it backfired and Kara rejected her. Though she would definitely deserve it, having rejected Kara's advances up until now herself. Sighing, Lena went back to ordering her food on the other app and tried to ignore the itch to keep checking her iMessage. 

* * *

"Oh, I saw these really nice headphones the other day I bet Ruby would love," Kara gushed as she walked about the store with Sam and Alex, the three of them having already collected a small assortment of gifts at the mall. 

" _Perfect_ , I knew you'd be the best person to bring along," Sam grinned before turning to her fiance. "Alex, I love you, but you are _awful_ at gift shopping."

"Being able to pick out the perfect presents isn't quite a top priority to the FBI." Alex shrugged gently, though smiling good-naturedly at the remark nonetheless. "I already know what present I'm getting you though, and it's a _good_ one. Just you wait."

"Oh really?" Sam teased, though clearly she was curious as to what gift Alex had already planned out for her. Kara smiled to herself as they found the electronics aisle, in on the secret herself. Alex was getting Sam a golden locket with Ruby's zodiac constellation made out of tiny diamond dots on the front, and on one inside flap would be a picture of Sam, Alex, and Ruby while the other flap would have engraved inside of it 'Our family'.

Alex knew the most important things to Sam in her life were her daughter, and having a family (with Alex), so she wanted to give her something that showcased both of those things and also reminded Sam that even if Ruby wasn't her daughter, she loved her as her own. When Alex had told Kara about it, the reporter had started crying. And then Alex had started crying. Kara could definitely agree that Alex had picked out a good one this year, and knew Sam would absolutely love it. 

"Here– they've got a bunch of options, but I thought she'd like these the most," Kara gestured to a pair of purple headphones, then glancing at her watch. She ought to get going home soon, she had so much work to get started on with the supplies she'd just purchased. 

"I actually think I need to get home, there's so much stuff I have to start working on for the event," she said in an apologetic tone. "I had a really good time hanging out with you guys though!"

"It's okay, you go on ahead, I think I'm gonna call it quits soon too." Sam moved to give Kara a parting hug. "Thank you for all your help."

"It was good seeing you, sis," Alex added, lips curling upward slightly as she leaned in to embrace the blonde. "Oh, Christmas tree decorating is still happening next weekend, right?"

"Of _course_ , same as every year," Kara said with a convincing smile before waving and turning to leave, though in all her concerns with the event she'd somewhat forgotten to start thinking ahead about that. Every year she hosted a party at her loft where her friends and family would come help decorate the tree and eat and drink together. It was always something she very much looked forward to, but right now, her head was spinning with so many other priorities. 

 _Good grief_. Not only did she have regular work to worry about, but she was scrambling to make sure this event turned out just as good as every year and also had her own party to think of. Kara reminded herself to remain calm and not let herself start to get stressed out this early on or she'd burn out before she even made it to the 22nd. Just as she was exiting the store, she pulled her phone out of her purse and went to iMessage. _Son of a nutcracker!_ She'd forgotten to reply to Lena's message! She hoped the other woman hadn't thought she was intentionally ignoring her. 

Chewing on her lower lip, Kara carefully wrote out her response, oddly pleased by the fact she now had Lena Luthor's number. It certainly brought them one step closer in the direction of friendship. 

_'Hi, Miss Luthor. I appreciate the apology, even though you honestly shouldn't be the one apologizing. I'm really sorry that I said what I did. I didn't mean to upset you or make you feel bad about yourself. I just wanted you to understand that opening up to people isn't necessarily a bad thing. I didn't exactly go about saying it the best way, and I apologize for that. But I'm not fed up with you, pinky promise. I'd really love for us to become friends. And I know it's going to be a process for you, but trust me, I'm very patient :)'_

Kara gave a self-satisfied smile at her reply, waiting for a response. Meanwhile, Lena jolted out of her slight nap, having been sent into a food coma after eating all the food she'd had delivered, and glanced at her phone. Kara had finally replied! Browsing the reply, Lena couldn't help but give the slightest smile at the childish mention of 'pinky promise'- that was very typical Kara Danvers, from what she had already begun to understand about the other woman. She was glad to see Kara wasn't mad at her and was still very much open to the possibility of a friendship, despite all of Lena's previous errors. 

It made her stomach coil up nervously, the more she thought about pursuing something like a friendship when she'd actively avoided such a thing for so many years of her life. But she tried to be firm with herself. It wasn't that they were suddenly going to become best friends, no. They would take it slow, at Lena's pace, and she would certainly begin to adjust to it. She would still stay resilient about her disinterest in Christmas, however, and hopefully Kara wouldn't fight her on that. But there _was_ one thing she thought needed to be done on her end to really prove she was stepping up to the plate. 

_'No need to apologize, I suppose I needed to hear what you said. And by the way- you can call me Lena.'_

Kara's eyebrows rose at the incoming text, and she felt something flutter excitedly in her chest. Hard to believe just the previous week Lena had reprimanded and humiliated her in front of all her coworkers, and now that very same woman was trying to begin opening up to her, even finally allowing her to call her by her first name. It had to be Christmas magic, Kara thought to herself with certainty as she exited the mall to head home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I skimmed this for mistakes so sorry if there were any but aw look at Lena taking some healthy steps finally I love my Luthor bby


	7. The Invitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lillian has finally arrived and she's just as terrible as i'm sure you all expect. enjoy the chapter tho! sorry in advance for any mistakes

When Lena stepped into her office Monday morning, something sitting on her desk made her suddenly stop in her tracks. Approaching her desk with caution, she surveyed what appeared to be a large thermos and a note propped up against it with suspicion. That thermos wasn't hers, and people didn't just tend to leave them on her desk either. 

"Pauline!" she called, and only a few seconds later her secretary came hurrying into the office. 

"Miss Luthor?" she asked quickly, eyes darting around until they landed on Lena examining a drink thermos on her desk. 

"What is _this?"_ Lena asked, eyes taking in her first name scribbled across the front of the propped up note. Pauline seemed relieved when she realized what Lena had called her in so urgently for, and that it wasn't an actual emergency. 

"I believe Kara Danvers came in this morning and left that on your desk," the brunette assistant explained, gauging how Lena would react to this. She didn't want to get in trouble for not stopping Kara, though surprisingly, Lena turned and did not reprimand her. Instead, her expression seemed to ease up and she looked a little foolish even for her previous suspicions. 

"Oh– well, in that case, I'm sorry I called you in so urgently," Lena said, clearing her throat. "You just can't ever be too careful. It wouldn't be the first time someone would try to assassinate me with something as inconspicuous as a thermos."

Pauline's eyes widened and she nodded slowly. "Oh, right, of course. I had no reason to believe Miss Danvers would try to harm you..."

"No, I don't think she would. You can return to your desk, sorry again."

She flashed a prim, tight smile though once the younger woman had left, Lena turned on her red-soled heel and approached the offering. Setting her Birkin off to the side, she reached out to pluck the note up and open it up. Inside was more writing in the same hand, and she read carefully. 

_'Good morning, Lena! I hope you had a good rest of your weekend. I made a fresh batch of my famous eggnog on Sunday, so I thought I'd bring some to let you try! I don't know if you even like eggnog, but I'm pretty confident my recipe would change your mind even if you didn't! Anyway, what I actually wanted to say is that I'd really love if this coming Saturday you'd come to my annual Christmas get-together. It's only a few people, friends and some family, and it's at my loft. I know you don't really do Christmas parties, but you don't have to decorate the tree with us or share gifts. At least just come to have dinner and a few drinks! Let me know._

_Your friend,_

_Kara'_

Lena gave a soft groan as she reached the end of the note. **Fantastic**. Now that she'd opened the door a little wider, suddenly Kara thought them becoming friends meant she could invite her to her silly Christmas parties and bring her _eggnog_. Lena didn't even _like_ eggnog. A particularly mean thought crossed her mind about dumping the drink out in the bathroom sink, but she figured friends did not dump their friends' homemade eggnog down the drain, so she waved that idea away. Though, the parting words _'your friend'_ managed to bring a sudden flourishing of warmth in Lena's chest that she was not used to experiencing. 

Well, she'd have to set some ground rules for this new friendship, and it had been her mistake not saying something previously when texting Kara. Under no circumstances would she be involved in Kara's merrymaking and jingle-belling. It just... it would simply be too large of a step forward for Lena's comfort. She'd already left her safe, familiar bubble by broaching this whole friendship thing with Kara... no, she couldn't possibly do a Christmas party. Slipping her phone out of her pocket, she opened up her texts to Kara. 

_'Thank you for the eggnog and the invitation. Unfortunately, I won't be able to come to your get-together. I hope you can understand.'_

She clicked the button to shut the screen off then, narrowing her eyes slightly as she tentatively placed a hand around the thermos still taunting her. Unscrewing it, she took a wary sniff as the steam came out the top, and found that it actually didn't smell so bad. Just then, her office door opened up behind her and she hastily threw the cap back on and set the thermos down, turning a hawk-eye on whoever had just barged in. It was Pauline again. 

"What is it?" she inquired, stepping in front of the half open thermos and crossing her arms over her chest expectantly. 

"I'm so sorry, Miss Luthor, but it's... it's your mother."

Lena visibly slackened, jaw unclenching at those words before she pulled herself together again in a split second. 

"I see. Well, I suppose you ought to send her in." Pauline nodded dutifully before exiting the room again, and Lena stepped past her desk, standing before the window behind it and staring out. What could her mother (and she used that term in the loosest sense of the word) possibly want from her this morning?

* * *

"You did _**what**?_" 

Winn stared slack-jawed at Kara, an accusatory and disbelieving glint in his eyes as they stood at the office water dispenser. The blonde was blushing profusely, and hastily attempted to defend herself. 

"I invited Lena to my party," she repeated while gesturing widely with her hands. "Why is that such a bad thing? We're friends now. Kind of. She didn't _exactly_ say we were friends, but she wants to be friendly with me, so same thing. And friends invite friends to their parties!"

" _Ohhkay_ , since you've obviously forgotten, let me explain a little something to you about Lena Luthor," Winn said, leaning in a little. "She hates Christmas. **Hates** it. There is no way that she would ever attend anything related to Christmas, _such_ _as_ a Christmas party."

Kara rolled her eyes behind her glasses, crossing her arms. "I didn't forget, Winn, _obviously_ I know she's got a grudge against Christmas. But I decided to invite her anyway because it's the nice thing to do. She can say no and I'll understand, but I wouldn't feel good about myself if I didn't at least extend the offer!"

"I hope you haven't prepared yourself for anything but a big fat 'no', because that's definitely going to be her response." He shrugged lightly and took a sip of his water. 

"I don't know, she's been somewhat nicer lately, I think there might be a chance she'll say yes," Kara disagreed. "I _did_ tell her she didn't have to participate in any of the Christmas stuff. I said she should at least just have dinner with us."

"Yeah, well, twenty bucks says she doesn't show," Winn tossed his empty cup in the trash, looking at Kara with amusement in his features. "Also, do you even know if she likes eggnog? What is she's just wasting that whole thermos you brought for her?"

"Oh, quit pouting, I'll bring you some more tomorrow." Kara made a teasing face at Winn's puppy-dog pout, though a sharp ding sounded from her back pocket. 

"Think that's Lena?" Winn asked, now grinning as Kara tugged her phone out of her pants pocket. She ignored him to open up her messages, reading Lena's text. Though she'd known not to get her hopes up indeed, her heart still sunk all the way down to her feet as she read the rejection. Well, at least she hadn't been mean about it, though Kara had so been looking forward to the idea of Lena spending time with her and her friends, mainly so she wasn't just sitting at home alone. 

Although, that was a broad assumption of Kara to make. It was possible Lena would spend time with her mother, or perhaps she would see someone, like a boyfriend. Or girlfriend. Kara didn't know which she preferred. Though Kara could not recall any recents news about Lena seeing anyone, which was something the tabloids would most definitely pick up on, maybe Lena was just really good at keeping it quiet. That had been the case with her acquisition of CatCo. 

Even if work kept her busy most of the time, Lena Luthor was still quite young, incredibly gorgeous and smart- surely she had no trouble finding any suitors. In fact, to assume she _wasn't_ currently seeing anyone was more hard to believe- who wouldn't want to date her? Oddly enough, though, it bothered Kara to think of Lena spending the next Saturday with some attractive stranger, sharing red wine and expensive appetizers, when it would be so much more fun, and worthwhile, in Kara's opinion, to hang out at the reporter's loft and spend more time getting to know each other now that they were doing the whole friendship thing. 

"So?"

Kara's head snapped up, and her puzzled expression made Winn start smiling again in utter amusement. 

" **So** _what?"_

"What'd Lena say?" he prompted, now grinning all over again. 

"Oh, um- well, she said no." Kara caught her lower lip between her teeth. 

"Darn," Winn clicked his tongue. "Better luck next time, I guess?"

"Yeah, um..." Kara shook her head, trying to refocus herself. "Maybe if I talk to her in person she'll change her mind." 

"Let me know how that goes. But I have got to get back to my desk. Our boss may be our friend but I'm _not_ about to push it." Kara smiled at mention of James, nodding as Winn left to return to the bullpen. A light frown appeared as she whirled to return to her own office, her chest still feeling uncomfortably sunken inward. 

* * *

Lillian's presence was made known to Lena immediately, even as she stood facing the view of National City from her office. Though it lacked the luxurious balcony of her office at L-Corp, it still offered a spectacular view, and it was better looking out there than at the woman whose company she actively avoided (and that principle was generally reciprocated, except for today, it seemed). She could sense her entrance into the room, even if it hadn't been for the heel she'd heard click against the floor. Lillian was a woman whose aura one could not forget. 

The statuesque, cool-mannered matriarch stepped further into the room, eyes roaming until they landed on the thermos and note sitting on Lena's desk. Glancing up to see if Lena had turned to look at her yet, and satisfied to see that she had not, the woman picked up the note on the desk and nosily perused it. 

"I can't imagine what you could possibly want from me at this moment in time," Lena spoke, rigid and monotoned as she remained with her back to her mother. 

"Is that any way to greet your mother, Lena?" the woman's eyes snapped up from the card as she finished reading it, an unusual smug, cold smile on her face as she set it back on the desk. "I only wanted to see how you've been doing as of late, sweetheart. You know, I do care about you, despite what you may think of me."

A scoff left Lena's lips before they formed a scowl at the blatant dishonesty, though anyone else hearing Lillian would never suspect how untrue those words were due to the saccharine quality of her voice. It was then Lena turned to face her mother, hands clasped in front of her torso almost defensively. 

"You're sure it's me you're interested in, and not my recent acquisition of CatCo?" Lena suggested flatly, remaining standing even behind her desk. "You haven't spoken to me in weeks. If you think there's something for you to gain, socially or financially, by dropping in right as I've made this move, you've miscalculated greatly."

Lillian's smile grew tighter. "Now why would you think I'm only here because of your accumulation of CatCo?" She tilted her head at the brunette curiously.

"Because you cling to any last shred of relevancy that you can," Lena retorted, finally taking a seat at her desk and busying herself tidying it up (though it was nearly impeccable as it was). "And the only way to do that ever since Lex was put in prison is by coming out of the woodworks whenever I make headlines and pretending you care about me. You have a very distinct MO, mother."

Lillian gave a little hum of amusement at Lena's words, though there was a certain bitter edge to it. 

"I, too thought you had a particular pattern when it came to the holiday season, but here you are getting invited to Christmas parties," Lillian smiled as if Lena's cutting words had no effect on her (and they probably didn't, considering what a heartless woman she was). "What's in the thermos?"

"Of course you snooped through my things." Lena reached over to snatch up the note and thermos, dragging them protectively away from Lillian. "And just because I'm being invited doesn't mean I'm going."

"Well, I should hope not." Lillian's eyes snapped onto Lena's face, surprising the young woman momentarily with how solemn they appeared. "You would be a fool to allow yourself to get sidetracked, Lena. And Luthors do not raise fools."

 _No, they just raise criminals_. Lena held her tongue, deciding that was an argument not worth getting into at the moment.

"You own two of the biggest companies in National City, Lena- in the _country_ ," Lillian continued, staring pointedly at Lena, eyes narrowed a tad. "At this moment in time you hold great power, and it would be shame if you allowed yourself to appear weak by mingling with people below you. You don't need your inferiors to like you. Their fates are in _your_ hands, you don't need their approval or friendship. What you _need_ is to focus on you, and the success of the companies you own. Right now it's most important that you find a new CFO to take over so you can return your attention to L-Corp, which is vastly more important than this silly little tabloid business."

Lena looked up from under her dark lashes with some amount of irritation in her green eyes. "Believe me, mother, I know exactly what I've taken on and what I need to be doing. I've been perusing candidates for the position since I began, I'll have a permanent CFO in place in no time." She paused to lick her lips, feeling that they were suddenly dry as she dared to assert something that she might not have believed before Kara Danvers had stepped into her life.

"And it's not weak to make friends, even if you raised me to believe otherwise. Just because these people are my employees, it does _not_ make them any lesser than me. Maybe I don't _need_ their approval or friendship, but I want it. And there is nothing weak or wrong about that."

Lillian's features filled with disappointment, anger at Lena's daring words. A scowl that eerily reminded Lena of her brother fell upon the woman's face. 

"You are a fool," she stated flatly, cruelly, making Lena blink quickly and clench her jaw so hard she feared her teeth might crack. "Lex would _never_ make the mistakes that you wear so proudly."

"No, he made his own mistakes- mistakes that put him behind bars," Lena said with nostrils flaring, now intending to inflict maximum damage since her mother had crossed the line first. "Now, is there anything else about the way I choose to live and work that you would like to nitpick at, or shall we conclude this little meeting?"

Lillian remained silent as Lena tilted her head at the older woman, a smile far too sweet on her face to be genuine. Composing herself once more, Lillian stood from her seat, clutching her expensive purse in front of her. 

"I had _so_ hoped to intervene before it was too late, but clearly it already is." Lillian began, the quality of her tone now somewhat serene again though that did not reassure Lena in the slightest. "You've become weak, and naive, and there is nothing that can be done to undo it now. But don't worry, my dear- when this ideology backfires on you, and your _'friends'_ use and discard you, I will be waiting with open arms."

Lena stared blankly at the woman, seeds of doubt beginning to plant themselves within her no matter how hard to tried to block out Lillian's words. Lillian turned on her tall heel and saw herself out, leaving Lena frozen at her desk. It took a few seconds for her to snap out of it, and when she did, suddenly she was filled with rage and rebellion. Lillian was not going to manipulate her into hiding in her emotionless, lonely bubble again. Forget her previous hesitance- she knew what she had to do. Lena grappled at her phone, hastily unlocking it and going to iMessage. 

_'I hope I'm not interrupting you from your work... but I think I will come to your get-together after all.'_

Part of it was perhaps out of spite for what her mother had said to her only moments ago. Lillian wanted her to remain lonely and bitter, just like her, but Lena was ready for a change in her life. Not only that, but... 

_"I know I'm no one special to a CEO slash CFO, so I get it if you don't particularly want to get to know me."_

Kara's words from the other night echoed in her head again. She owed it to Kara to do this and to show initiative in learning more about her, and she already knew that friends and family played a very important role in Kara's life. Though, Lena was nervous as hell about how it would make her feel to be in a setting she'd actively avoided for so many years. But she didn't necessarily have to partake in the Christmas traditions, like Kara had said, and she could leave early if need be.

The important thing here was showing solidarity in this new friendship, and that meant spending more time with Kara outside of work. She was a good person, and frankly, Lena needed more people like that in her life. Plus, she knew Kara would prove Lillian wrong- already she had begun to challenge Lena on some of her own views. There was no way Lena could believe that Kara would use and discard her as Lillian had warned. 

The businesswoman reached for the eggnog sitting before her, opening it back up and deciding to take another baby step out of her comfort zone. She tentatively took a sip... 

 _"Bleh!"_ Lena scrunched up her nose and hastily put the thermos back down, reaching for her own coffee and gulping it down fast. A Christmas party she could (hesitantly) do. Eggnog? Not so much. 

* * *

"Looks like you gotta cough up twenty bucks, Schott." Kara skipped on tip-toes over to Winn's desk, a sudden giddiness about her. "Lena's coming after all."

"You got her to change her mind?" Winn looked up from his computer in disbelief. 

"No... I didn't even go up to talk to her, she just texted me again out of the blue." Kara was grinning from ear to ear. "Guess she just had a change of heart."

"Seems like she's had several when it comes to you," Winn muttered, returning to typing away on his laptop. Kara was speechless at that, and she tried not to think too hard on it as she whipped her phone back out. 

_'That's great! Saturday at my loft at seven :)'_

Kara had no clue what had spurred Lena on to change her decision, but she was very grateful to whatever catalyst caused it. Gleefully, she began to hum a familiar Christmas tune on the way back to her office, all stress and thoughts of the event off her mind for the first time in days. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that lena/lillian scene was so much fun to write even tho lillian is a stone-cold BIATCH. and you guys wondered where it came from with lena in chapter one lmao


	8. Survivor's Guilt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda sad/angsty chapter. i know it's been a bit since an update, and i ALSO know christmas has passed but i hope you guys still like reading this lil holiday fic anyway!!

As several days passed by, Lena began to experience some serious internal panic about this party. What should she wear? She refused to touch any article of clothing that was red or green- she could not throw _all_ of her principles out the window. And what should she bring? Cookies? Cake? _Alcohol?_

She was going to need some Scotch, it was the only thing that would probably get her through the god-awful Christmas music and present unwrapping (should she decide to even stay for the latter). She was getting desperate, and Kara hadn't told her much else other than a time and place, so she decided to finally give in and call Kara up to her office for guidance. 

"Pauline? Would you call down and have Kara Danvers come up to my office?" Lena spoke into her own comm on her desk, two fingers pressed against her temple. 

"Yes, Miss Luthor, give me just one moment."

The businesswoman waited idly for Pauline's voice to return to her, and a sudden, terrifying thought dawned on her. God, what if it was an _ugly Christmas sweater party?_ She'd throw herself in the path of an oncoming bus before she  _ever_ attended one of those. 

"Miss Luthor? Um, Kara actually isn't at work today. She called in sick."

Lena blinked at this news. Kara had not texted her to tell her any of this, though perhaps she had not wanted her boss to know she'd skipped work today. But that didn't seem like her. Over the past few days since getting Lena's number, Kara had begun to message her more frequently, about even the most inconsequential things. Lena found herself enjoying these little messages though, even if it was just Kara asking what she was up to or telling Lena that she'd just eaten half a dozen pancakes for breakfast one morning, it was a nice change from only ever receiving messages and calls about work. That was why she was so curious about Kara not having told her she was sick- if she messaged her about what food she was having for breakfast, why wouldn't she tell Lena about something that was actually pretty important?

"Oh- that's unfortunate. Well, thank you anyway."

She let go of the comm button, breathing out softly, worriedly. Her hand found her phone on the desk and she swiped open her messages. 

_'I heard you called in sick today. What's wrong?'_

Normally, Kara was fast at reading and responding. To the point that Lena felt guilty for even waiting more than five minutes to respond to her messages. But Kara seemed to only open the message, then leave her on read. Lena actively frowned, fingers hovering over the keyboard. She wanted to send another message, but feared she'd just be left on read again. She kept waiting for the typing bubbles that never came. 

She then glanced at her timetable for the day. She had a brief meeting to attend in ten minutes, and then she had an extended period of free time going through lunch. That would be plenty of time to drop by Kara's loft and check in on her. If she wasn't going to reply to her texts, then Lena would simply have to go to her and check on her. She didn't think Kara was the type to play hooky- maybe she was too sick to stay on the phone long? Either way, Lena was deadset on visiting the reporter and seeing what was going on with her. 

* * *

The morning meeting went better than expected, and Lena exited the conference room with the utmost confidence in her steps, walking towards the personal elevator Cat Grant had left behind in her leave of absence from the media conglomerate. Before she could step past the open doors and into the elevator, someone called for her. 

 _"Miss Luthor!"_ she turned, spotting James Olsen taking large strides over to meet her. "Sorry to stop you, I'm sure you're on your way to something important."

"Not exactly- I was going to visit Kara at her loft, see how she's doing. I heard she called in sick, and she's not responding to my texts."

James's expression faltered for a moment, a seriousness filling his handsome features and Lena couldn't help but look at him with suspicion. 

"I don't think you should do that, Lena," he urged quietly, causing all sorts of ideas to fill her head and for her concern to increase.

"Why not? She's not playing hooky, is she?" She knew James and Kara were friends, but she hardly believed he would let Kara get away with unreasonably skipping out on work. "No, no, she's not it's just... well, I don't think she wants anyone bothering her right now."

Lena had to withhold a scoff. "I'm certain she wouldn't be disappointed if I showed up on her doorstep." James still seemed uncomfortable by Lena's desire to go to Kara, but knew better than to keep fighting her. 

"Okay, just... don't be upset if she doesn't answer the door. Today is a particularly difficult day for her."

Lena stared at him oddly before the doors sounded behind her as if to close again, and she quickly whirled and stuck her arm in the way to stop them. "Right, well, I'll bring her some soup and I won't stay long. I'm sure it'll be fine." Lena stepped into the elevator and jammed the button for the ground floor, sending a fleeting smile his way though James still looked at her with trouble in his eyes as the doors shut.

A particularly difficult day? Of course being sick would make any day more difficult, strenuous- but James was being strangely solemn about it. It wasn't like Kara had been infected with the Bubonic plague or anything. The Luthor found herself in her limo only a few moments later, having Frank make a detour so she could stop and get some bread and soup from a restaurant before continuing to Kara's place.  

She pressed the buzzer outside of the building, her breath leaving smoke in the air as she spoke into it. "Kara? Kara, it's Lena, could you let me up?"

No one spoke to her, and there was no buzzer sounding to signal that she had been let in. She did a little dance on the spot to warm herself up, waiting and wondering until, finally, the buzzer went off. Lena hastily opened the door and let herself in and up, towards Kara's loft. As she stood outside the door, she glanced at the peephole, wondering if Kara was standing there, watching her. 

"I'm here." She knocked, a tiny smile on her face. Again, there was an extended pause before the locks began to click and the door swung open. Lena could not help her features from betraying her shock as she took in Kara's appearance. Kara's own eyes were slow to move upward to Lena's face, a soft pink tint around them behind her glasses as she stood in her pajamas in the doorway. 

"Goodness, Kara..." Lena hoped her words did not cause offense, but she had never seen Kara in such a state before. Aside from the worn, mismatched pajama set and red eyes, Kara lacked the usual springiness to her body and her usually glowing skin seemed so dull. Hair had been thrown back in a haphazard bun and the tip of her nose was just as red as her eyes. Maybe she was sick... but there seemed to be something more troubling beneath the surface than your common cold. "Is everything all right? Can I come in?"

Kara sniffed quietly, not speaking but stepping aside languidly so that Lena could enter her loft. Immediately, Lena was bombarded with the sight of all the Christmas decorations the reporter owned, though she ignored them to look back at her friend. Kara shut the door and then turned to pad back over to her sofa, where she'd clearly been sitting with a blanket and a box of tissues before Lena's arrival. Something streamed inaudibly on the TV and Lena followed, boots clacking loudly on the floor. 

"I, um- I brought soup and bread," Lena offered as she held out the bag of take-out, a painfully forced smile coming onto her face. Kara accepted it, though setting it down on the table before them as she threw the blanket back over her body. "I'm sorry you're feeling so unwell." Lena has still been working on the whole feelings thing, including empathy for others. But the CEO suddenly displayed great alarm as her words seemingly set off something in Kara like a catalyst, and her face screwed up as she lowered it and a soft sob shook her body. 

"Kara?" Lena's heart began to beat fast as she tried to determine what she'd said wrong to make Kara start crying. "Kara, what is it? Was it what I said?" Kara's hand covered her mouth while she cried quietly, a few tears leaking over the back of her hand as they trailed down her cheeks. She shook her head, and Lena leaned forward a bit. 

"It's not you," Kara finally said in a quivering voice, speaking to Lena for the first time since she'd arrived while reaching for her tissues and pulling her glasses off to wipe at her eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just, um– it's _hard_ for me to talk about. Today is... today is the anniversary of my parents' death."

She sucked in a deep, shaky breath, slipping her glasses back on. Lena's heart seized up at Kara's words, and she struggled to respond. 

"Oh, I, erm- I didn't know, I'm sorry," she fumbled. "I shouldn't have come over and bothered you, I just... I though you were only sick." She didn't know what else to say. Talking about parent death... that wasn't something Lena was interested in doing. But she couldn't just up and leave Kara now, not when she was like _this_. 

"It's okay, you didn't know," Kara assured her with a sniffle. "You'd think after this many years it wouldn't hurt anymore. It shouldn't. Time is supposed to heal everything, right?"

She gazed at Lena hopefully, as if wanting the woman to confirm it and keep her bubble from bursting. Lena looked back at her dolefully, unable to give her the answer she wanted. 

"In my experience, that is simply a myth," Lena offered quietly. "And I've yet to find the real cure for the pain."

Kara's eyes lowered, the blonde toying with her fingers in her lap. She sniffed softly, Lena utterly silent beside her, before tentatively smiling. "You're such a scientist."

Lena looked at her in disbelief, lips curling back in a strange, slight smile. "Well, that's what I am."

Kara nodded with the softest laugh leaving her. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She met the brunette's eyes, a sudden shyness in her own. "You know, my dad was a scientist. I always thought his job was super cool."

"Oh yeah? Well, speaking as a scientist, among other things, it _is_ pretty cool." Kara's smile grew at that, which brought an odd sensation of gladness within the Luthor. 

"I liked my mom's job, too," Kara reminisced, her smile remaining though there was an unusual fixed quality to it, as if letting it down would bring back a flood of sorrow. Lena's expression  grew somber, feeling that suddenly the conversation was about to take a difficult turn. "She was a judge, back in Metropolis. She helped put terrible people behind bars."

Blue eyes roamed a solemn face. "I couldn't see myself in a job like hers, but being a reporter sometimes feels like I'm doing what she did. I try to look at all the facts and make sure that bad people can't get away with doing shady things. I know it's not exactly the same but..."

Lena offered a quick upward turn of the lips. "What you do is noble in its own right, Kara."

"She was killed," Kara blurted as she stared at her lap, startling Lena. "Her and my dad. Murdered. I saw it all."

Lena's voice felt as if it had been taken away by Ursula and entrapped in a magic necklace. She couldn't speak–– of everything she'd expected, all the ways Kara might have lost her parents, this was the last thing she'd ever imagined. This shining ray of sunshine with a dash of rainbows had witnessed the murder of her own parents?

"I was only thirteen," Kara let out an unstable breath, plucking at the fibers of her blanket with shaking fingers. "Someone planted a bomb in our car. We were out having dinner... I left my sweater inside the restaurant. I ran back inside to grab it. Just as I was about to walk back out, it detonated across the street." Wide-eyed, with bated breath, Lena hung on to Kara's every word. How Kara could discuss this without breaking out in hysterics, Lena had no idea. And she thought she'd been through it in her own life... what she'd dealt with was nothing compared to poor Kara. 

Now Kara's eyes were filling up with tears again and she continued, though with more emotion in her voice. "The FBI got involved– two other people died and others got injured. They thought it might be terrorism. That's how I met Jeremiah, my adoptive father. The Danvers took me in during the investigation... they were so kind to me." She pushed hair away from her face, resting her elbow on the back cushion of the sofa. "Months later they finally caught the guy who did it... my mom had sentenced him to prison years before, and I guess he'd been plotting his revenge for a while. He was sentenced with the death penalty, and the Danvers decided to take me in for good, since I didn't have anyone else."

She removed her glasses again to rub at her eyes, and Lena allowed herself to swallow, throat dry and burning with emotion over Kara's story. It pained her just to listen– she couldn't imagine what it must have been like to _live_ with this. 

"You know, I always wonder, what if I hadn't left that stupid sweater inside the restaurant?" Kara laughed, sobs bubbling up as the hysterics Lena had been wondering about were finally kicking in, it seemed. "I should have been in that car with them. It should have been all of us, I don't know why it was me who survived." More tears poured down her face, and Lena felt the heart that existed under a thin layer of ice begin to beat insistently, hotly in her chest. She reached out and placed a hand over Kara's, brows crinkling in concern. 

"You deserve to be alive, Kara," she said with great passion in her voice. "Don't question it. Don't regret it."

Kara's lips quivered and suddenly she pushed herself forward, throwing her arms around Lena and shaking them both with her soft sobs. Lena carefully drew the blonde close, her arms wrapping around her shuddering frame while her eyes grew cloudy, troubled. Survivor's guilt had been crippling Kara for so many years, though she hid it well with a cheery disposition and intense interest in caring for others. She didn't deserve to deal with it. No one did, but _especially_ not Kara Danvers. 

"Thank you, Lena." The brunette felt warm breath hit her neck, the words uttered so quietly she might have missed them, though she didn't. Her fingers pressed into Kara's back harder, a shiver falling down her spine. "Thank you for being my friend."

Lena had never before experienced something like this– taking on someone else's burdens and trying to comfort them. No one had ever considered her a shoulder to cry on until now. And it wasn't until now that she was actually glad to be one. Kara started to put a little distance between them and Lena hesitantly let go, finding that she already missed the intimacy she had never before thought she even needed. 

"Sorry if I cried and snotted all over your fancy blazer," Kara laughed nervously, awkwardly, trying in her own way to lighten the mood. Lena was happy to play along, smiling perhaps with more sincerity than ever before. "I've got fifty of these, don't even worry about it." The Luthor waved her hand dismissively, blue and green eyes connected in understanding before Lena broke their connection to glance at the food on the table. 

"Well, I hope you like the soup. I think I'll head back to the office now, and _you_ get some rest. That's an order from your boss."

She rose from the sofa, offering one last friendly smile before seeing herself out of Kara's loft. The reporter watched after her, features relaxing as she remembered the arms that had been wrapped around her only a moment ago, offering some stability during one of her lowest moments. She reached for the take-out on her table, opening up the bag and pulling out the still piping hot soup with gladness. 


	9. The Christmas Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's way past christmas but who cares man. anyway the reason i went like extinct was bc of returning to college and it literally destroying any free time and muse to write (plus de-press-ion). but I STILL CARE. and i missed sc which is why i finally pumped out this update. hope you guys like! 
> 
> also, sidenote to this sidenote, i had already written most of the chap when i realized j'onn was nowhere to be found and then i wasn't quite sure how to bring him into everything esp with no powers verse and having to change up alex's job a bit and whatnot i just .. thought it'd be easier to not include him in the end. hope u don't hate me for it i swear i love j'onn sm but i'm lazy folks

During the rest of the work week, Lena was glad to see Kara had returned to the office and was back to her usual self. Not that there was anything wrong with being emotional or vulnerable (well, Lena was still working on believing that), but she'd hated seeing Kara so downtrodden. Meanwhile, she continued her hunt for a permanent CFO, a part of her longing to return to L-Corp as its CEO. Currently, Samantha Arias was acting in her place at the other company, and though she trusted the woman, no one could do the job quite like Lena. Plus, she simply missed the familiarity of it.  

Eventually, the fated day arrived... the day of Kara's party. Lena had determined through the hostess herself that it would help if she brought cookies, and she was more than welcome to bring alcohol– so her beloved Scotch would indeed be coming along after all. 

Lena stood outside Kara's loft for a second time in that week at several minutes before seven o'clock, punctual as always. A reusable bag hung on her arm containing the cookies and alcohol she'd determined to bring, and a black coat with a large fur collar kept her decently warm in the cold as light snow fell down from the sky. When she walked over to the buzzer, she was aware of someone jogging over towards her, and she glanced to the side. It was... Will? No, _Winn_... Kara had told her they were friends at some point, though she'd only run into him in person very rarely.

"Miss Luthor?" the programmer asked without attempting to disguise his complete disbelief at her presence. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Didn't Kara tell you she invited me?" Lena inquired, tilting her head at him. "And that I accepted?"

"Well, yeah, I– she did, I just... wasn't sure you'd actually show."

He seemed embarrassed to admit it aloud, and Lena scoffed, returning her attention to the buzzer to ring up to Kara's loft. "How presumptuous of you," Lena said as her cool blue eyes landed back on the awkward face of Winn Schott. "I may not like Christmas, but I'm not deathly allergic to a little holiday music and tinsel. And, besides, I'm here for Kara, as her friend. I don't have to like the holiday to show some support."

Flabbergasted, Winn shook his head. "Oh– no, I didn't mean... well, I guess I did but, um...  _Okay_ , it's nice that you're here too." He had obviously decided to go for a different angle, perhaps determining insulting Lena any further with his disbelief wasn't potentially worth losing his job over. Still, with utter sincerity, he added, "I know it means a lot to Kara."

Her lips had been pursed though they twitched with the tiniest smile at his words. The buzzer went off to let them in and she composed herself, her seriousness returning. "Let's just go up, shall we?" She glanced at him, brow quirked, and Winn hastily fixed a smile on his face, nodding his head in agreement. She walked ahead of him, going up to Kara's loft. 

* * *

Alex, Sam, and Ruby had arrived early to help Kara finish setting things up in her loft for the get together. Kara hadn't needed much additional help, but the extra hands were appreciated nonetheless, and by 6:50 the loft was party-ready. Without shame, Alex prematurely popped open a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass, chugging it down as Kara and Sam watched with shock and amusement, respectively. 

"Maybe wait until the party actually starts, sis?" Kara suggested with a laugh in her words, and Alex set her glass down with a shake of her head. "You have no idea what work has been like lately– that was much needed, and well deserved. Don't worry, though, I promise I won't get super drunk and embarrass you in front of Lena."

Colour flushed Kara's cheeks and she laughed her sister's words off. Ruby, sitting on the sofa with a pair of headphones on and her eyes glued to her phone, lifted one headphone off of her ear. 

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked, and all three women exchanged glances, barely holding back grins. 

"Nothing, sweetie, go back to your Youtube, or Netflix, whatever it is you're watching," Sam called over, turning her head to look at her daughter with a bright smile. Alex and Kara's eyes met and the redhead winced, though humor remained in her eyes. "I _swear_ I'm really trying not to be a bad influence. _Really_."

Kara scrunched her nose at her sister and nudged her playfully, the buzzer for her door going off just then. "Oh!" She scuttled over to the intercom by her door, pressing the button for the lobby door. "I hope everyone's here, or at least nearly everyone! I don't think I can wait a second longer to start eating."

"When are you not looking forward to eating?" Alex asked, quirking a funny brow at her adoptive sister. "I mean, you're a human garbage disposal." Sam snorted and hastily attempted to cover it up with a hand over her mouth, and Kara raised a finger, prepared to retort just when she was interrupted a second time with a knock at the loft door itself. 

"Lucky you, the rest of my guests are here," she chided with humor, smoothing out the red and green plaid, body-fitting skirt of her dress, the bodice of which was a red sweater that hugged the toned physique of the reporter rather well. She unlocked and pulled open her front door, putting on her sunniest smile (which, was her usual smile) for her guests. Lena and Winn stood before her, wrapped up in coats and bearing snacks and food. Immediately Lena's eyes grazed over Kara in her very Christmas inspired outfit, not used to seeing the blonde in nice party attire. She looked good– it really emphasized her fitness, which Lena was both jealous and in awe of. She raised her eyes to the level of Kara's, the whole scan only occurring in a millisecond in real time, a tentative smile finding its way onto her lips. 

"Welcome! Come on in, guys," Kara stepped out of the way, bespectacled gaze remaining on Lena for just a moment longer as the CEO glanced around the loft while stepping a heeled foot past the doorway, unaware of the reporter's interest in her. Kara thought, despite her general lack of interest for these sort of parties, that Lena had certainly put in the effort to look elegant for the evening with her hair slicked back into a bun at the nape of her neck and a surprising but lovely stain of red on her lips. She looked stunning, and Kara had spent a second too long reveling in this before realizing she ought to take her guests' coats and help them put their additions to the feast somewhere. 

"Oh, here!" Kara sidestepped Winn, who had been holding out his coat and looked somewhat confused and offended as she took a bag from Lena and then accepted the woman's lush black coat. "Sorry, I had a little brain fart. You know, it happens." She snorted, making Alex wince from over at the island next to a highly amused Sam, and Lena's lips parted, a slight furrow to the brow. 

"Uh huh– anyway, I uh, brought cookies from Solunto's, there should be plenty for everyone..." Kara glanced at the bag she held which contained the couple boxes of cookies– from an expensive bakery, of course. 

"That's so nice, thank you, Lena– I mean, I usually just get cheap sprinkle cookies from the supermarket down the road." Kara chuckled, going first over to the coat rack to sling the coat onto a hook before taking the cookies over to the little table containing other treats for the party. 

"Well, I wasn't really sure what kind to get, I don't..." Lena trailed off, suddenly aware of all eyes on her, blush-dusted cheeks going red even underneath the makeup. "I obviously don't come to these sort of parties so..."

"Oh, gosh, no, they're perfect!" Kara quickly tried to resolve the error, not wanting to make Lena feel bad for her generosity. "I'm sure they taste ten times better. Thank you, seriously."

Winn still stood by the door as Kara set out Lena's treats for easy access, and he pointed at the coat rack then, quietly accepting, "Guess I'll just... go put this up myself." He cleared his throat, doing exactly that before approaching with two bottles of wine. 

"I figured other people would also be bringing alcohol," he said as he handed them off to Kara, who thanked him warmly and gave him a hug. 

"And there you are right, for once, Mr. Schott," Lena said with a half grunt as she pulled a bottle of pricey Scotch out of her purse, and at that Alex gave a bit of a rowdy sound of approval. 

"Now that's what I'm talking about," she acknowledged, and Lena couldn't help but turn and smirk at her, walking over to the island to set it down. "Shall we crack it open now?"

Kara was about to go pull out glasses when the comm alerted her that someone else had arrived at the building, and she glanced at Alex and Sam in need. "Either of you know where the glasses are..." She whirled to go over and buzz in who she assumed to be James, their last arrival, waiting at the door as Sam fished some clear glasses out of a cabinet for the adults. 

"Is everyone having some?" she inquired, and Winn waved his hand, shaking his head. "I'm good, I'll have some wine for now."

Sam set out enough glasses for the women and James should he want any, and set to pouring out the Scotch while Kara greeted James and let him into the loft. 

"This is the good stuff," Alex admired as she picked up her glass, looking at the transparent brown liquid within. "Perks of being a CEO slash CFO, huh? You can buy the best Scotch."

"I love a glass of red wine, don't get me wrong, but there's just nothing like an old-fashioned Scotch," Lena replied, taking her own glass into her hands. "I especially thought for tonight–"

She cut herself off as it dawned on her just how it might come off to explain her reasoning for bringing the alcohol to the party, eyes going a little wide, and Alex, being rather perceptive, picked up quickly on what she'd intended to say. 

"Hey, no shame, I can't tell you how many office Christmas parties I spent wishing I had a whole bottle of this stuff to get me through the small-talk and cheesy music," Alex shrugged, swishing her Scotch in her glass. "If anything, _I'm_ appreciative that you brought this." 

Lena's previously alarmed expression softened a bit at this acceptance, at the lack of judgement, and she visibly eased up before the two women. Alex continued to smile at her with a soft glimmer in her eyes (perhaps mostly from the Christmas lights shining all around them), though once having been the first to judge Lena, now the first to welcome her into Kara's small family. 

"I'm glad you came, Lena," Sam added herself, offering a rosy-cheeked smile at the woman she already knew rather well through work. "I was admittedly surprised you accepted Kara's invitation, but I'm happy you did decide to come. As is my fiancee, clearly." She glanced pointedly at Alex, who had already taken it upon herself to taste the Scotch. Lena smiled a bit to herself, bowing her head. She hadn't exactly expected such a warm reception– she had a reputation, and she had worried people might feel they were walking on eggshells around her over the whole Christmas thing. But Sam and Alex were friendly, and were clearly trying to make her as comfortable as possible, and that was something she was extremely grateful for. She had yet to begin to regret her impulsive decision to come after all. 

"Ms. Luthor," James said with a tone of surprise she very much expected, and Lena turned to look at her coworker, offering a polite smile and raising her glass in welcome. "Glad to see you here."

"Please, you don't have to address me so formally," she cleared her throat, fingers toying with the hem of her deep blue dress. "Lena is fine." James's lips spread into a wide smile at the change, and Lena's gaze fell, a flush still warming up her porcelain skin. 

"Well, now that everybody is here," Kara said excitedly as she grabbed her and James a glass, offering him his before turning to the party. "A toast." She gave a slight pause so everyone could give her their full attention. Sam called over for Ruby, who took off her headphones and came to join her mother at the island as requested. Sam put an arm around her, smiling down at her daughter before returning her attention to Kara.

"I am so, _so_ glad you all could make it tonight, to be here with me." She gave a sweet, soft sigh, cheerily glistening eyes landing on each and every person near her before making a full stop on Lena as she continued to speak. "I know that I'm a little crazy about Christmas. More so than is probably socially acceptable. I tend to go a little overboard with the cheesy sweaters and music, and I put up enough tinsel to stretch probably from here to New York..."

A few chuckles rang softly as she spoke, and Kara herself smiled, though did not lose her flow. "But for all my obsession with Christmas traditions and decorations, what I really care the most about, and what I think Christmas is really all about, is family..." Her eyes flickered over to Alex, who gave the softest smile and tilted her head at Kara in response, brown hues full of adortaion. "Friends..." She glanced from Sam, to Winn, to James, who all regarded her tenderly, and last but not least, to Lena. "And love." 

Lena, unblinking, looked into the depths of Kara's eyes and felt a warmth not from the Scotch spreading down from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes. The corners of Kara's lips pulled up just a bit higher before she looked away and Lena looked down at the contents of her glass, suddenly aware of her breathing speeding up, as if it had previously halted and was trying to regain it's normal rhythm. 

"Merry Christmas everyone," Kara raised her glass and stepped forward, and Lena, so caught up in a mental whirlwind, did not even blink at the words she typically didn't like to hear or repeat herself, simply sticking her glass into the middle of the island to clink against the others as echoes of _'Merry Christmas!'_ sounded around her. She smiled, just a bit then, as Alex glanced at her cheerily and then she brought her glass to her lips, taking a sip.

Perhaps she was so thrown off by the mere fact that she had never been included in a toast that would associate her with the concepts of _'love'_ and _'friendship'_. It was taking a moment to register that Lena finally had a friend for the first time in a long time. And the way Kara had looked at her while offering such sweet words... Lena could not begin to identify this feeling when it was one she'd never really had the chance to be familiar with previously, whatever it might be. 

"So, are we all ready to eat?" Kara abruptly inquired then, looking around at the small sea of bright faces. "Because I know _I_ am."

A chorus of agreement was music to the blonde's ears and she guided them all over to the set table, a mixture of comfortable chatter resuming as the guests moved about to find themselves a seat at the plentiful table. 

* * *

Maybe it was the fact the Scotch had had some time to settle in, but by the time tree-decorating time had rolled around, Lena was actually _enjoying_ herself. Though she had not been overtly talkative at the table, she had reveled in the conversations going on around her, feeling increasingly that this was not only what it was like to have friends, but a _family_. Not even when her father had still been in the picture had dinners been like this, had there been such moments of uninhibited affection and joy. That realization had prompted a brief moment of sadness in the Luthor as she sat on the sofa while others decorated the large, lush tree in the loft– it did not go unnoticed by Kara. 

The reporter had figured that the sorrow in Lena's eyes that only she could seemingly detect had something to do with Lena discovering just how much she had missed out with her own family, with the lack of friends over the years, and it deeply pained her to think of how lonely Lena had been for so long. But at the same time, she was glad to be the first person to show Lena the joys of true friendship, even if it had been a bit of a tug-of-war in the beginning.

"Hey, Lena, do you think you could find a nice spot for this little guy?" Kara beamed, approaching the woman whose eyes had risen to meet hers with a cute penguin ornament in her hand. "Alex has a habit of clustering ornaments all into the same spots so I need you to help me out here..."

"I do _not_ have any such habit," Alex protested from beside Sam and Ruby as all three worked on placing several glittery ornaments upon the bristles of the tree. "I don't, right, babe?"

Sam made a face, prompting a groan from Alex while Ruby grinned without restraint. "I think it's better if I don't answer that, sweetheart," Sam decided before stepping back to admire her handiwork, then going to the ornament box for another. Meanwhile, James glanced between Lena and Kara as he fixed a hook back onto the ornament it had come off of, interested in the outcome of Kara tactics in further including Lena in the evening's antics. 

"Oh, no, I don't think– you guys are doing just _fine_ without me," Lena said with a little scoff, gesturing with her Scotch glass in hand. "I'm not so sure my tree spatial awareness will be any more reliable than Alex's. I can't even remember the last time I decorated a tree." Kara's face immediately fell, prompting a bit of guilt in Lena, though she still wasn't sure she wanted to agree to this. 

"Please, Lena?" Kara turned on the puppy-dog eyes, beautiful and pleading behind the lenses of her glasses. "I need an extra hand since Winn is pre-occupied with eating all the cookies you brought."

As if on cue, Winn's head snapped up from his paper plate of assorted desserts, most of which were indeed the cookies from the Italian bakery of Lena's choosing. "What's the point of all this dessert if someone's not gonna eat it?" he asked. "Besides, I'm manning the music, which is a highly important job. The atmosphere is what makes or breaks a party, Kara."

"You know, you can just put on a Christmas playlist on Spotify and let it play, right?" Ruby questioned with all the valid technological certainty of a young preteen in this day and age. 

"I like hand selecting my Christmas music, okay?" Winn said almost defensively, and Ruby rolled her eyes playfully. 

Kara sighed and Lena's brows raised, though she was beginning to feel once again that Kara's influence was too strong to deny. "Okay, okay– just this one," she said as she set her glass down on the table, rising from the sofa with a distinguished grace despite the several glasses of Scotch she had already consumed. "Let me see..." She circled the tree a bit, eyes roaming to find that perfect spot. Once found, she stepped forward with every ounce of certainty and focus, sliding the string over rough pine needles until the ornament was nestled comfortably in place. 

"Lovely!" Kara clasped her hands together with a bright expression upon her face, though just then Lena's attention had fallen on Alex, who was putting a silver snowflake just a _tad_ bit too close to an adorable caricature of St. Nick himself. "Oh, that might actually be better if you shifted it over just a little..." She stepped in to gesture, and Alex leaned her head past Lena's form a bit to look at Kara, grinning toothily at her sister at this sudden change. Kara returned the smile with an enthused grin of her own, crossing her arms over her chest in self-satisfaction. 

* * *

 

All the ornaments had finished being placed, and there was just _one_ thing left to do now. 

"Time for you to put the topper on," Winn cheered on as he glanced at Kara, Lena finding her spot again on the sofa. She'd gotten a bit caught up in the decorating, though had convinced herself it was less about the sentiment of it and more about ensuring perfection.The sight of a bunch of ornaments all clustered up would bother her more than the act of putting up a few ornaments herself, of course. 

"Oh, yay!" Kara did a little shimmy of excitement, dragging the step-ladder they'd been using to place ornaments higher up on the large tree a little closer to it. 

"It's her favourite part, every year," Alex murmured from beside Lena, an arm around her fiancee, the agent having found residence on the sofa herself after finishing with the tree. Lena smiled tenderly at Kara's giddiness over something so simple, so mundane– she was almost envious of the joy one little task such as this could evoke in Kara. She had to remind herself that not everyone had been so de-sensitized to the holiday season in their lives that something meant to be fun, like putting on the tree topper, would seem hardly special to them.

Kara had just acquired the beautiful silver star with opalescent jewels in its shape when a look crossed her features that suggest something had suddenly dawned upon her.

"Actually... I think I'd like to do something new this year," Kara announced, blue eyes moving up from the star in her grasp to her friends around her. "I think Lena should put the star on the tree. Since this is your first time here for Christmas and all. You're our guest of honor, it's only fair." 

Lena was quite put on the spot now– everyone was waiting with curiosity, with bated breath to see what she would do. Even Winn had paused the music playing in the background. Green and blue eyes met, gazes clicking into place, and an internal battle was waged within Lena. Though some element of peer pressure made her want to just go ahead and do it, there was another, stronger desire that was convincing her to take on this task. That desire had _solely_ to do with Kara Danvers. 

This could be the gesture that solidified this blossoming friendship, and Lena was convinced, after the lovely evening she'd had thus far, that she this was the thing to do. Setting aside the bad memories, the pain, her overall objection to this holiday, all that was left was her newfound fondness for a young reporter who was doing everything in her power to make Lena feel included in something, even if Lena despised the general premise. There was no protest this time, as there had been over the ornament. Lena rose from her seat, nodding her head with a strange somberness. 

Kara stepped forward once and transferred the star to Lena's awaiting hands, the CEO treating it with utmost delicacy. Kara turned on her heels as Lena walked over to the stepladder, though her heels made it a precarious climb. Kara was at her side at an instant, offering a hand. "Here, I'll help you," she offered quietly, encouragingly, and Lena nodded a second time, the corner of her lips curving up in the slightest. A pale, strong hand slid into a tanned, surprisingly stronger one and Lena bolstered herself up on the first step, then the second.

Kara's hand remained steady under hers, keeping Lena from wobbling, and the brunette reached up to slide the topper onto the point of the tree. It went on with no trouble, and Kara spoke to her from below, informing her, "Flip the little switch up, to light it up."

Lena held her breath and used her thumb to push on the little black switch on the back, and sure enough light erupted from within, traveling through the star's jewels. Lena stared at it in appreciation for a moment, trying to imagine how it might have been years ago to get the chance to do this, _her_ family watching on happily. The picture was too hazy– she couldn't convince herself of it. But here, with Kara, with her friends and family, the moment was crystal clear, something to be remembered. She felt happy. With that thought having occurred to her, she finally began the cautious journey back down the ladder, Kara's grip steadfast, never having faltered this whole time.

When Lena's foot hit the floor, their hands remained raised and connected between them, and Kara was smiling in a way that was contagious. Lena had to smile back, though she was highly aware of their connected hands until Kara finally let go, dropping hers back at her side, furling and unfurling her fingers. As she turned, her eyes connected with her sister's, and there was a silent exchange of information despite Kara's best attempts at blocking it. Alex's eyes twinkled and Kara went beet red, her eyes dropped to the floor as she stepped away to turn back to the tree and take in the sight. 

"How is it?" Lena asked breathily as she stepped over, admiring the tree herself. 

"I think this is the best it's ever looked, honestly," Kara told her, a little laugh escaping her. Lena seemed pleased by this bit of information. All returned to as it had been before this crucial moment, the guests talking loudly amongst each other, James coming over to strike up conversation with Lena.

"Oh, hey, hey!" Winn's shouts caught everyone's attentions then as he gestured wildly one direction, towards the other part of the loft where the bathroom and Kara's bedroom would be. "Mistletoe! They got caught under the mistletoe!" He seemed very excited by having been the one to catch this trick on Kara's part, and both Sam and Alex stood under the large doorway connecting the two parts of the loft, very surprised. Heads tilted back to look up and confirm the discovery, and Kara couldn't help but smile a little mischievously at the discovery. 

"Well?" Sam looked expectantly at Alex, the apples of her cheeks a bit pink and a smug smile on her face. 

"As if I needed an excuse," Alex scoffed with a happy smirk before drawing Sam in and kissing her sweetly right under the mistletoe. Winn gave a cheer at their good sportsmanship, and somehow, during this moment, Kara's eyes had first found Lena from across the small living room. It was then that Lena was alerted, through her peripheral vision, that someone was looking at her, and she turned her face away from James to make eye contact with none other than Kara. 

Both women seemed unsure of what this moment meant, why they had both looked at each other rather than at anyone, or anything else. Arguably in an attempt at nonchalance, to make it seem like it held less meaning than it (perhaps?) did, Kara offered an overly friendly, casual smile and thankfully, Winn interjected again to save her further. 

"Listen, James, man, I love ya, but if I end up over there stay on this side of the loft, okay?" Winn teased, making the other women laugh. Lena chuckled a bit at the remark, tearing her eyes away from Kara and allowing the both of them the opportunity to brush over the charged moment, to pretend it hadn't been all that significant (and it hadn't been, had it?).

"You make it sound like I would want to intentionally be over there at the same time as you."

"You don't? Well, _that's_ a little hurtful."

Ruby burst out into giggles, starting a chain reaction, and the loft became slowly filled with the joyous sounds of uninhibited laughter and jolly Christmas music once more. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hint, hint, lena ... that feeling ? is probably love sweetie. i know you've never gotten to really experience it before but ... it's because before there wasn't kara :))) also im so tired sorry if there were any errors its 2 am ok


	10. Disaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about being mia but ya girl hasn't had time to write in FOREVER. finals kept me busy and then i'm working and interning for the summer. but i've been in my supercorp feels esp with the finale/reveal still lingering in my mind UGH. so here's an update! ALSO lmao at eve being all good and sweet still in this fic this is how far behind i am in updating fam

Kara had realized the day after her party that it was crunch time. The event was in a week, and she was far from finished with all her duties. She worked hard through Sunday making crafts, and on Monday, she spent whatever free time she could find between work calling to make final confirmations with the entertainment. That was where the trouble began... 

 _"What do you mean Santa broke his legs?"_ Kara said into the phone with a wild expression on her face. "No—I mean I _know_ it happened, but _how?_ "

There was inaudible garbling in response, and Kara's expression faltered as she pressed fingers to her temple impatiently. "So he's not coming, obviously. Okay, um, well, I'm sorry about his legs but... do you have anyone else available to stand in for him?... No pun intended." Of course they most likely didn't. It was on such short notice and so many other events were happening in the city beside CatCo's that it would be a sheer _miracle_ if they could locate someone else with availability. 

"Okay, well, call me back as soon as you have news," Kara sighed, licking her lips and leaning forward on her elbow, which was planted on her desk. "Thank you, bye."

She ended the call, trying not to allow any panic to set in at that point. It was just one setback. It wouldn't be the end of the world if Santa couldn't make it, right? But they'd find someone, surely they would. It would take a lot more than a Santa with broken legs to stress Kara out. And besides, she was still on a bit of a high from the party Saturday night—she hadn't known what she'd expected, but it had been all around wonderful. And having Lena there... that had been more than Kara could have ever dreamed of. 

There was just something special about the relationship she and Lena had begun to develop just over the course of two weeks. It had to be special, if Kara had managed to get Lena to put on a Christmas tree topper, for crying out loud. Kara found herself eager to be around Lena whenever she could be as time went on, and in turn, Lena regarded her quite differently from the first day they'd met. Kara couldn't quite explain the way it made her feel, to have Lena as a friend, but she was certain it was obvious to Lena how much she already cared about her. 

And it was obvious to others too. Kara couldn't forget the way her sister had looked at her, more than once, Saturday night about Lena... It made her blush, as the last thing she intended was to come off so obviously enraptured by her new friend. But how could she not be? She was beautiful, intelligent, complex, _beautiful_... 

 **Pause**. 

Kara had frozen up at her desk during her brief moment of inner reflection, and hastily returned her attention to her phone to dial another number. 

It was in the middle of Kara exasperatedly informing one of the catering companies over the phone that they had the numbers wrong and in fact, they needed food for far more people than that when there was a knock on her door. She looked up at Eve, who gave her an apologetic, though bright smile. Kara put the caterer on hold.

"It's Ms. Luthor—she said she tried texting you, but I figure you haven't been able to check your messages..." She grimaced sympathetically. "She wondered if you had a moment to come up to her office."

Despite Kara's current preoccupations, she nearly shot up from her desk in eagerness at the prospect of taking a break to go see Lena. 

"Oh, yeah, I'll head up there right now." Kara beamed at the other blonde. "Thanks, Eve."

"Of course," she bowed her head, though she faltered in the doorway for a moment. "By the way... how are things for the event looking? It's honestly all I've been thinking about for the past few weeks, I just can't wait! I know everyone else feels the same way too."

Kara's mouth was frozen in a smile, eyes trained almost blankly on the other woman as she tried to formulate a reply. It felt like an eternity in her mind, though it was really only a millisecond of silence before she blurted out a response. 

"Things are looking great!" she said in a tone that was a little too squeaky, but Eve took no notice. "Just, you know, making final confirmations right now but everything is going according to plan, _one-hundred_ percent."

Eve gave a soft sound of joy at that. "That's good to hear! Well, I will leave you to your work now..." She gave another friendly smile before stepping out of the small office. Kara blew out a gust of air– she didn't like lying, but no one needed to know about any of the bumps in the road. She had a lot to prove, not even to her coworkers, really—but to _Lena_. If Lena saw her struggling at all, if she knew things were beginning to go awry, she worried it would give her greater reason to try to get the event canceled altogether again. 

Sighing, Kara got back on the phone to tell the caterers she would have to call back later, and made her journey to Lena's office. 

* * *

Lena had been wondering why Kara wasn't answering her texts—not that she wanted her slacking on the job, of course, but she'd begun to get quite expectant when it came to text responses from Kara. Honestly, whenever her phone buzzed with a text, she found herself hoping it was from the eager reporter. 

Just as she sent off a finished email, Kara walked into her office. Lena rose with a lovely smile on her face, and found herself approaching Kara. The blonde's eyebrows twitched as she realized that Lena wasn't stopping, and she thus made an awkward jolting movement before realizing that Lena was going for a hug and reciprocating. They had never hugged before. 

Still, as unexpected as it was, quickly the awkwardness dissipated and there was a comfortable, though brief embrace, Kara feeling something strangely akin to whatever had run through her when she'd held Lena's hand in assistance during the Christmas party at her house only two days ago. Whatever that feeling was, it was soothing, and made all other concerns ebb away.  

"So, hugs—that's a thing now, huh?" Kara chuckled once they had separated, not wanting to _not_ acknowledge it, but also making sure her tone didn't convey any displeasure either. 

"Well, you know, I—I just thought, that's what friends do, right?" Lena said, that unmistakable blush settling on her cheeks. In truth, it had been more of an impulsive move—perhaps she had felt that it was an acceptable one after having held Kara's hand already. Of course, that had solely been for the purpose of keeping Lena from falling off a stepladder, but she would not have let just _anyone_ touch her hand for even such a mundane task. She'd let Kara. 

"That is true, friends _do_ hug," Kara agreed with her pearly whites still bared in a grin, and the two moved so that Lena could sit behind her desk again, Kara before her. Though, there lacked some formality despite the seating situation, boss opposite employee—Kara did not feel an ounce of intimidation as compared to her first day in this office before Lena. 

"So, Eve said you were trying to reach me..." Kara trailed off, giving Lena a chance to explain herself. The brunette's lips spread into a gentle smile (something, Kara had noticed, which seemed to come easier and much more often to Lena in recent days) and she rested a hand on the smooth, cool surface of her desk. She seemed suddenly—shy, was that the word for it?—as she revealed her reason for calling Kara up. 

"Oh, well, it seems silly now, to have had Eve call you up to my office and everything for this but... I just wondered if you wanted to get lunch together."

There was a sparkling hopefulness in her eyes, and as deeply as Kara wanted to say yes, absolutely yes—she was worried about how much she still had to do for the event. Any free time she had now was dedicated to getting this or that done, and if she went out with Lena, she'd lose her focus. And really, one of the goals of all this hard work was to pleasantly surprise Lena... Kara bit on her lip, and immediately Lena's expression sombered. 

"You don't want to?" 

"No, it's not that I don't want to it's just—" Kara gave a sigh, trying not to betray her exhaustion too much. "There's just a bunch of stuff I have to check off my list still for the event, and I was probably going to use my lunch break to get more of that done."

Lena's eyebrows shot up and she spluttered out a response. "Oh!—Well, that's—yes, of course you should get that done, that's more important..." She awkwardly reached up to scratch at the nape of her neck, lips parting as Kara watched with a pained look on her face.

"Trust me, there's nothing more I'd want in the world right now than to go out with you," Kara explained, and Lena's green eyes flew up to her face, gauging her sincerity. "Rain check?"

Lena's expression was frozen for a minute in time before she forced a smile, nodding. "Yeah—rain check. Another day, then." 

"Yeah." There was a brief, strained moment of silence as they stared at each other before Kara seemed to remember something (her eyebrows jolted upward and she blinked in surprise). " _Oh_ , I forgot, I meant to tell you before and it just slipped my mind but..." _Uh oh_. She hadn't quite thought through how she was going to tell Lena that her coworkers expected the CEO at the event. Perhaps it was bad timing to tell her now after just rejecting her lunch offer but—

"What is it?" Lena asked, now all disappointment pushed to the back of her mind as her heart gave an unexpected squeeze at this bit of news Kara wanted to tell her. Kara trailing off made her a little nervous, as she now seemed a little hesitant to tell her whatever it was. 

Meanwhile, there was no going back for Kara— no putting it off now that she'd started to say it. Gulping, she adjusted her glasses before continuing where she'd left off. "It, _ahem_ , might have come up in one of the meetings with my event team that you... well, that you might possibly... _most likely_ , be coming to the event, actually."

She fidgeted a little in her seat, biting her lips as she gauged Lena's reaction to the promise she'd made without any assurances. Lena appeared to go through several emotional stages before the reporter's very eyes, and it struck genuine fear in her heart when those bright green eyes seemed to go a few shades darker. Why, oh, why had she lied to her coworkers? Their satisfaction was certainly not worth the oncoming wrath of Lena Luthor. 

"And how exactly did it come up, Kara?" Lena asked in a chillingly even-toned voice, unblinking from across the desk. 

"I—Well, it was just that... they were saying some nasty stuff about you and thought that you had only come with me to the venue to get back in their good graces," Kara was spewing out her reply as fast as possible to get to the part where she had done it to defend Lena so that the CEO might become a little less irate. "And I mean, technically they were right, but I thought maybe I could sway their suspicions and still turn things around to put you in a good light and it—it just came out before I could stop myself. So..." Her voice became a little mousy then. "I told them you were going to the event."

While Lena knew deep in her heart as she mulled the words over that Kara had only meant well and had intended to defend her, the anger that had already begun to bubble up inside of her was rising too fast to simply let it go. She absolutely loathed things being beyond her control—her entire life had been out of her control prior to taking over L-Corp. For as much as she had grown to like Kara, having had a decision made by the reporter without her consent, especially one that went so far as to submerse her into an event she had tolerated, but would absolutely not attend was just _too much_. 

"I can't believe you would do that," Lena shook her head, an angry little scoff leaving her. Kara shrunk a little, feeling foolish. "You know how I feel about this sort of thing and yet you made that choice without my permission. The Christmas party I could tolerate, I could handle that but _this_... this is beyond my limit. How could you do something so... so  _stupid_ , Kara?"

Kara frowned at the harshness of Lena's words. "I'm _sorry_ , Lena, but... I didn't do this to hurt or upset you. I really was just trying to help... I just— I made a mistake. But it can't be that bad, can it? It's only—"

"I know you think it's not that big of a deal, Kara, but it is to me," the CEO turned her eye sharply on the other woman as she cut her off. "Good intentions or not, you lied and put me in a position I didn't want to have to be in."

She stared hard across the desk, heart racing with anger, and even a little bit of panic. What was she going to do? She had no choice but to go now or her employees would think her a flake and hate her even more. But she knew how hard it would be to be there, remembering everything, the most painful things... 

Kara's heart, too, raced in her chest— she was hurt, and confused. She understood Lena's reluctance but this reaction seemed so aggressive for such a minor error. Again— it had to be whatever the real reason was for Lena's dislike of Christmas that was making her lash out like this. There was something she was avoiding that was turning pain into anger.

"I'm sorry," Kara apologized, trying not to convey the hurt in her tone. Nothing she could say right now was going to make Lena feel better, so it was best to just remove herself from the situation and let her cool down. "I'll just, um... I'll go back to my office. I'm really sorry, Lena."

She rose slowly from her seat and, shoulders caved in a little, made her way quietly out of the office as Lena watched with flashing eyes behind her. As soon as the door shut, a shuddery gasp escaped her and she clenched her fists on the desk, trying to delay the anxiety rushing forth. Hard as she had been trying not to think about it, her mind was being barraged with an array of sensory details—beeping monitors and indistinguishable voices shouting, the smell of burnt flesh (that _horrible_ smell) and antiseptic mixed together... Before she knew it, she was a sobbing mess. It had been a while since she'd fallen apart like this. Not even the evening she'd scurried away from the graveyard, not even then had it hit her like this. And all she could do was cry it out in complete and shattering solitude. 

* * *

 It was hard for Kara to focus on craft making that evening when all she could think about was how angry Lena had been with her earlier. She just wished that Lena would open up rather than lash out at her—yes, she knew she'd been in the wrong to put Lena in the position she had. But it had been a bit of an overreaction on Lena's end, certainly one that had to stem from that painful past Kara knew vaguely of, but didn't have much detail on. It wasn't Kara's mistake that upset her—it was the idea of having to go to this Christmas event. But why? She wanted so deeply to be that person that Lena could tell anything, and that Lena knew she wouldn't judge her or expect her to hold anything in like others in her life might. 

The reporter sat on her living room floor, trying her best to make good paper star bunting ornaments. She winced as she gave herself a paper-cut while she was distracted reading instructions, bringing her finger to her mouth to suck on it. In her sharp movement, something ripped quite loudly and she froze up, looking for the source. At the same time as she realized she'd torn one of the ornaments in her lap right in half, she began to smell a strange, burning scent. She looked up and gasped in horror as the flame of one of her gingerbread-scented candles began to _devour_ one of her strings of ornaments. She must have tossed it on there without realizing—Kara quickly grabbed at the glass of water she'd had on the table and dumped it on the fire hazard without a second thought. 

Though she accomplished stopping from burning down the entire apartment building, she _also_ managed to destroy all of the surrounded paper crafts by sopping them completely with water. _"No, no, no, no,"_ Kara muttered hastily, anxiously, grappling at the crafts to see what could be salvaged. She held the ruined crafts in her hands, staring down at them and feeling her shoulders sag with defeat. She was running out of time, was working with limited resources, and half of her bookings and already arranged plans were falling apart. The optimistic spirit from earlier was unfortunately no longer possessing her, and Kara was beginning to see things for what they truly were. The event was going down in flames, just like her ornaments. 

She abandoned the mess of paper and glue and glitter to find her phone on the counter and open up her messages, pushing her hair back from her forehead frustratedly. She couldn't stop herself from opening up her texts with Lena, fingers hovering for a moment over the keyboard before she typed her message. 

_'Hey—I know you're probably still mad at me. But I could really use a friend right now... I need a distraction from all of these decorations and plans. Please?'_

She hit 'send', chewing on her lip before turning around and looking over her living room one more time. It just wasn't worth trying to dive back in tonight—if Lena didn't reply, perhaps she would just go sulk in bed with a plate of cookies and watch Netflix. 

* * *

Lena glanced halfway at her phone as she watched a movie on the large television in her comfy living area, though did a double-take when she thought she saw Kara's name. Immediately, she plucked up her phone from beside her on the sofa and opened the message. Part of her wanted to just pretend she hadn't seen it and ignore Kara—some of earlier's feelings lingered, and though she reasonably knew they were mainly unrelated to Kara and that she had overreacted, there was that appeal of withdrawing into the protective shell and avoiding it all. But seeing the other woman's plea, it was hard for her to hold firm. It seemed that Kara wasn't in such great shape either—well, if they were going to suffer, at least they could do it together, right?

_'You can come over. Sharing my location with you now.'_

She set the phone aside, glancing aside at the glass of whiskey on the table. The Luthor took off the blanket covering her legs and rose to retrieve a second glass and fill it. If there was something Lena was especially good at, it was finding distraction from problems. She could certainly help Kara escape for a few hours, at least.

 

 

* * *

Kara was surprised, but more glad than anything, when Lena texted her back with her home location. She'd never been to Lena's place, though she prepared herself for the best Luthor money could buy. She kept her yoga pants and sweatshirt on, only throwing on the proper winter gear before heading out. 

* * *

Lena had also put together a bowl of caramel popcorn (half of which she'd accidentally inhaled while waiting for Kara, in both nervousness over seeing the woman after their confrontation and also over the stressful plot of the thriller she had on the TV). Soon enough, Kara had arrived and was instructed to be let up to the penthouse as Lena had relayed to the guard downstairs. Why Lena found herself hastily cleaning popcorn kernels off herself and fixing her hair when she heard the knock on her door, she couldn't actually say. But she hopped up to answer the door, and was glad to see in the doorway and equally comfortably dressed Kara Danvers. Though, she somehow still managed to look ten times more attractive than Lena in some yoga pants and a sweatshirt. 

"Ah, come in," Lena swallowed, opening the door wider so Kara could step inside. She shut the door and immediately made a beeline for the sofa again as Kara took her time entering the space, adjusting to the ridiculous square footage and gorgeous interior design. The reporter's eyes fell on Lena after only a minute, though, and she approached the woman sitting on the sofa. 

"Movie night, huh?" Kara nodded in approval—she hadn't had the time for one of those in, well, weeks. The caramel popcorn looked absolutely delicious—and she noticed the second glass of whiskey too. That seemed somewhat inviting, and she relaxed. "Listen, Lena..."

"No, don't apologize," Lena sighed immediately, guilty green eyes gazing upward at the blonde. "You already did, anyway, more than once. That should have been enough, and I know I overreacted..."

Kara came closer to take a seat beside Lena, expression full of empathy as she let Lena talk. "It wasn't really about the lie you told. I know you only had good intentions and it was an accident anyway. It's... _other things_ that made me react like that. I got panicky, thinking about having to go to the event. Because of those things."

Kara licked her lips before tilting her head slightly at Lena and asking, "Do you wanna talk about those... _other things?_ "

Lena opened her mouth but before she could reply, Kara cut her off. "Before you say no—just know that I would never judge you for anything you told me. I don't want you to hold everything in anymore. I just want to be the person you can talk to and tell these things so you don't have to keep it all pent up inside until you explode."

Lena's eyes shone at Kara's sincere statement, and she hesitated, tucking hair behind her ear as they sat close. "I've never really had someone to confide in. A person you can tell all your thoughts and secrets, a friend—it's a foreign concept to me, Kara. You know that already, of course, but I still have to say it because it's the only explanation I can give for how I act sometimes." She let herself examine the honesty in Kara's features before going on, assured. "I never had anyone I could tell everything. Not even my own family. I guess the one person I had that came close was, um... my father. There was my mother, I suppose, but I only got some of my first years with her before..." She cleared her throat. She had divulged a little of this story with Kara before, but not all of it. 

"Lionel Luthor was a good father, all things considered. He actually treated me like his daughter, anyway, while Lillian and Lex... well, I always felt like an outsider, a pretender around them. Lillian especially despised me because I was my father's bastard." She grimaced at the word, which was raw, blunt. Kara was hanging onto every word, brows lightly crinkled, breathing deeply as she waited for the entire truth. "When he wasn't around, she was decidedly cruel. Any mistake I made was harshly pointed out, every lapse of judgment picked at—mistakes simply weren't allowed around Lillian. But at least, when my father was around, he acted like a father to me. Believe it or not, there actually was a time when I loved Christmas because he made it everything it should be. And then..."

Her voice wavered a little then and Kara blinked, suddenly aware that emotions were rising in Lena. She instinctively reached out and took a hand, one resting in Lena's lap, and the CEO glanced down in shock. But she did not pull away, allowing her hand to remain comfortably grasped in Kara's. That grounded her, at least a little, and she could go on. 

"My father was... he was in a terrible accident. It was a helicopter crash— crash safety protections failed and it went down. Gas leaked out and it went up in flames—" She was beginning to breathe unevenly, chest rising and falling with her shallows breaths as sobs built up within. Kara gripped her hand tightly, steadily. "He was so badly burnt," Lena said in a shaky voice, tears beginning to fill her eyes. "They rushed him to the hospital and I remember Lillian and Lex and I getting there just as they were wheeling him in for surgery... but we couldn't follow the doctors, they wouldn't let us go with them, it—it all happened so fast." She let one, soft sob leave her and Kara abandoned the idea of simply hold her hand and drew closer, putting an arm around her. Lena paused to calm herself a little, taking a few deep, slow breaths before continuing. 

Voice a little more steady, Lena went onward. "There was nothing else they could have done for him. And so, only a day before Christmas, I had to bury my father and come to terms with the fact that I'd be spending the next few years living in the Luthor home feeling like an utter outsider. And Lillian ensured that Christmas was never the same after he died—she didn't bother keeping his traditions, not even having the household help buy me presents or decorate like he used to have them do. She made sure Lex was happy, of course, but I was just some infiltrator in their little family... I wasn't worth including."

Kara's eyes fluttered shut in pain at Lena's words—she had never know the trauma Lena had gone through beyond losing her mother, how horribly Lillian had treated her just because of her father's infidelity. It was no wonder Christmas was such a horrible holiday for Lena when it had been tainted by loss and exclusion. It had been utterly ruined for her. 

"I'm sorry," Kara breathed out. "I'm sorry she made you feel unloved and like you didn't have a family to be there for you. And I'm sorry about your father, Lena, I really am."

Lena's eyes, too, shut as she allowed her head to rest gently on Kara's, the comforting embrace of her arm around the brunette's shoulder perhaps making her feel more loved than she had in many years. 

"She's still bad, though not as cruel now," Lena scoffed, sniffing quietly. "After I started showing potential and having successes, she started to believe that the 'Luthor family values' she'd instilled in me had worked, and that there was actually some use for me for her. And now that Lex is behind bars and I'm in charge of L-Corp, she likes to pretend that she's an actual mother to me and that she has my best interests at heart. She's never been a real mother to me, and she never will be, not even if she pretends now."

The two remained embracing for another moment, Kara rubbing the CEO's shoulder reassuringly before allowing herself to tear away a bit. "I know you told me your real mother got sick and then you went to live with the Luthors... she isn't still... _alive_ , is she?" It wasn't the most graceful question, but Kara couldn't recall Lena ever actually confirming that her mother had died. She had only said she'd gotten too sick to take care of Lena, so Lionel had taken her away.

"No," Lena replied, shattering any pretense Kara might have held about her mother being potentially alive still. Lena wiped at her eyes a bit, reaching for her glass of whiskey and offering Kara the other. Though the blonde held it in her hand, too distracted by the large chunk of information she'd just received to pay it attention, Lena took a sip of her drink. "I didn't see her die, but my father came to take me away from Ireland to National City before it happened, and then told me when it did."

Kara didn't want to further press the issue, but she couldn't help herself. "Wait—so, you never actually saw her... pass away? He just told you she did? Do you... I mean, do you think he was telling you the truth?" Lena had been young, of course, but to take her away from her mother before she even actually died... it seemed so cold. How long had Lena's mother been alone, her child gone from her side, awaiting the inevitable end?

"Why would he lie?" Lena turned a slightly curious eye on Kara as she dug held her empty cup in her lap. "I can't imagine it was ideal for him to bring me, his bastard child, home to his wife and son under some complete pretense. Besides, I was so young, I don't think I would have taken it so well seeing her actually die. It was probably the best thing to do, even if I ended up under Lillian's roof."

Kara gave an inaudible hum of agreement, though something still didn't sit right with her about Lena being taken away before her mother had actually died. "Plus, I've seen the death certificate. I found it in his files, after he died." She looked Kara's features up and down as the blonde seemed a little lost in thought before deciding to circle back around to how she'd started the conversation. 

"But, anyway, um... well, that's the whole truth. That's why everyone thinks I'm some big Scrooge and that I hate joy and happy children and all of that Christmas stuff. It's not the holiday I hate it's just... the things associated with it that are hard for me to detach. And that's why I got upset earlier, because the thought of going to the event and seeing all those families happy, enjoying Christmas together—"

Kara nodded, returning her full attention to Lena. "I know. It's not easy. Look, it's okay if you can't come, your health is more important than the opinions of some jerks, okay? Besides, at this rate, I'm not even sure there's going to _be_ an event to go to anyway..."

Lena frowned, gazing at Kara with confusion in her eyes. "Why would you say that? I thought things were going smoothly with the planning?" Kara raised the glass of whiskey to her lips and threw it back, though immediately made a face and feigned a gag after. She wasn't really a whiskey fan. Still, Lena's eyes were trained attentively on the blonde. 

"They _were_ , and then everything started to fall apart. Santa broke his leg and one of the catering companies suddenly has the wrong number of people, I burned and then destroyed my decorations with water... if I had more money I could just swoop in and call another company for more food or book another act to make up for losing one but... well, what I have is all I have."

Guilt trickled all down Lena's back at Kara's woes—all a result of her previous Scrooge-y behaviour, before they'd become friends and she'd realized how important this event actually was to Kara and all of Catco. She lowered her eyes, looking away to set her glass back on the table. 

"I'm sorry things have started to spiral a bit," Lena apologized, hoping it might relieve some of the guilt. Not really. 

"It's okay," Kara shook her head, turning a tired, but sweet smile on Lena (which made a strange, different sort of feeling trickle down her back). "Not your fault people are unpredictable and unreliable. Stuff happens. It was nice of you to invite me over, though—I just had to get away from it, for a little bit. Plus, you have **caramel popcorn** —that eases a _lot_ of my pain." She gave a laugh. "Wanna throw a piece in my mouth?"

Lena gave her a strange look. "Throw it in your mouth? Seriously?"

"Yeah!" Kara said with gusto. "Come on, I'm _really_ good at catching food in my mouth. You know how when you go to those hibachi places the chef tosses a piece of broccoli in someone's mouth? Well, not to brag too hard, but I _always_ catch it on the first try." Another giggle left her and Lena couldn't help but grin at the utter ridiculousness of it. 

"Fine, but you have to move over a little, you're too close." She plucked a piece of popcorn from the bowl, watching Kara shift over a bit on the sofa. She tilted her head back and tried not to laugh, opening up her mouth wide. "Ready!" she said with slight issue as she tried to keep her mouth fully open. Lena shook her head and scoffed with humor, carefully aiming before tossing. Surprisingly, Kara caught it in her mouth perfectly and chomped down on it, utter childish giddiness on her face. 

"Another!" She prepared herself again, and Lena actually laughed, trying to steady her aim. "If you make me laugh more, I'll miss!"

Kara patted her thighs excitedly as she sat criss-cross, encouraging Lena to go for it. Lena tossed—but this time, the popcorn bumped into Kara's teeth and bounced right off. Lena scrambled to catch it, and it fell on the sofa though she snatched it up very quickly. 

"Oh, jingle bells!" Kara swore(?), and Lena rolled her eyes. 

"Here," she still held the popcorn between her fingers and brought it up, and Kara went briefly cross-eyed as Lena brought it towards her mouth. Her eyes adjusted so that she was no longer looking at the popcorn and Lena's fingers... and instead, her gaze fell on Lena's. There was a sudden tension that fell on them like the thick blanket Lena had been wrapped up in prior to Kara's arrival, and the blonde, very slowly, let her lips part while not blinking or moving an inch. Lena wet her suddenly dry lips and brought the popcorn to Kara's lips, slipping it into her mouth. Kara crunched on it for a moment, eyes intensely focused on the brunette—she didn't even taste the food, every one of her senses wanting to zero in on Lena. She swallowed, her lips parting again just a little, and she saw as Lena's eyes fell on them. 

Without much thought for consequence (if there would be any), Kara slid close again and craned her neck forward and down a little, gentle blue eyes taking in Lena's features as they grew closer than they ever had before. Lena's fingers gripped deep in the grey blanket still half on her lap, throat bobbing a bit as she swallowed and prepared for what she hadn't seen coming at all when she'd let Kara into her home that evening. There was a soft hesitation, just the shadow of their lips grazing one another before Kara took the initiative and pressed her mouth against Lena's. 

The kiss was incredibly innocent— their lips remained closed, and Kara's hand found its way up to the side of Lena's face to rest tenderly there. Kara wondered if, she were to part her lips, she would taste caramel and whiskey on Lena's tongue. She never got to find out. Lena tore away from her, eyes opening wide and Kara sat back, waiting for her to speak. While Lena seemed a little frazzled, Kara was oddly calm, satisfied. 

"I, um..." Lena was at a loss for words, until her eyes landed on her phone. She pressed the home button and pretended to check the time. "It's late, I have to be up early—you do too. I think you should, uh—leave."

She winced inwardly at her own wording—it sounded like she really wanted Kara to get out, which wasn't exactly what she'd intended. But she was in shock, what else could she say? If Kara lingered she was scared of what would be discussed after  _that_... and she'd already maxed out on her emotional transparency for the night. She decided not to say anything else and muddle things anymore than she already had. 

Kara didn't seem to expect the abrupt words, and blinked not quite in offense, but more in bafflement. "Oh? Oh, yeah, you're right, I should, ah—work, right. Um, thanks for having me over, and for the drink and popcorn and... yeah."

She rose a little too fast from the sofa and began to walk towards the front to get her coat on, and Lena squeezed her eyes shut and felt every inch of her body scream at her for her response to the kiss. Though she couldn't say with certainty exactly how she felt about it, she hadn't exactly wanted to just kick Kara out abruptly either. _Stupid_. 

"I'll, uh, see you tomorrow?" It was more a question, and Lena almost could have laughed—did Kara think she was going to hop on a plane and fly back to Ireland to avoid her after that? But she couldn't seem to even manage a tiny smile, she was still quite catatonic. Then her brain kicked in again and she was able to offer awkward, semi-smile. 

"Yeah," she agreed, and watched as Kara opened the door and let herself out. Lena couldn't have known how badly the blonde had wanted to look back once more and gauge her expression, make sure she hadn't completely ruined things by kissing her friend (and boss!). As the door shut behind Kara, Lena put her face in her hands, letting them slide down to her cheeks as she stared at the wall with eyes frozen open.

 _Oh,_ _jingle bells,_ indeed. 


End file.
